There are several reasons legal departments may look beyond well known, large law firms when choosing their outside counsel. Cost concerns, for example, or wanting local expertise. But according to the “Global Trends in Hiring Outside Counsel” report, many often turn to smaller firms because they believe they are more innovative than their larger counterparts.

The report, a survey of over 300 general counsel and senior in-house lawyers, was commissioned by startup Globality and conducted by The Lawyer Research Service. It found that more legal departments, 19 percent, were dissatisfied with their larger law firm counsel than they were with their smaller ones, 6 percent.