Shakespeare seldom waxed poetic about the legal industry, but the question of "what's in a name" does appear to be of particular relevance to that sector right now. Companies that have traditionally been known as alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) may be ditching that nomenclature in favor of terms like "law company," "new law," or something else that sounds a little more mainstream.

The "new law" label in particular may already be picking up steam, with PR and crisis communications firm Baretz+Brunelle recently launching a "new law" practice geared toward advising law firms and ALSPs on how to "evolve and thrive in the transforming legal industry." But forsaking the well-engrained "ALSP" label may be a tricky move for companies looking to better position themselves inside the market. What it will likely come down to is a question of substance over style.

To be sure, for some businesses, substance is exactly what moving beyond the ALSP designation is all about. Mark Harris, co-founder of Axiom and CEO of the contract data management company Knowable, pointed out that the term "alternative legal service provider" was something created by "traditional" providers and the press. Companies are instead looking for labels that describe what they are and the services they perform.

"As new models, we think of ourselves based on what we're here to do and improve," Harris said.

In other words, questioning and perhaps even abandoning the ALSP nomenclature is not without merit. Nathan Cemenska, director of legal operations and industry insights at Wolters Kluwer's ELM solutions, compared it to the "nonlawyer" debate, a term that can inspire a similar level of umbrage among industry players. The word "alternative" could be read as the next best option to whatever the default standard is considered to be.

But Cemenska believes that pivoting away from that word also has its benefits. "I think that is probably smart on their part. It's also fair. I mean, they should be considered right alongside any other legal service provider," Cemenska said.

Aside from the semantics of it all, the transition away from the ALSP label could also correlate to a changing market where the hard line between traditional law firms and legal service providers is beginning to fade. Jason Brennan, president of the Americas at Luminance, pointed to a trend that sees companies like his hiring the type of experienced, licensed lawyers that were once the exclusive domain of firms.

"I think the market is saying, 'Look, the old distinction of law firm and non-law-firm isn't as meaningful anymore,'" Brennan said.

But for companies that decide to make the jump from "ALSP" to something else, it's not just as simple as hanging out a sign that says "new law." A business first has to think about how it wants to be recognized in the legal market. ALSP, for example, is a broad umbrella under which a variety of services can be strung. Some companies are opting to go more specific with their rebranding efforts.

Factor, which rebranded in January from Axiom Managed Services, favors verbs over nouns. According to Chris DeConti, head of strategy, the company doesn't use any of the typical descriptors currently floating around the market. Instead, they "provide complex legal work at scale." It's a strategy largely designed around building a specific and memorable niche without fear of missing out on other types of business.

"It's an $800 billion legal market. Not all of that falls into the category of requiring the ability to manage complexity and scale, but it's certainly a market that is hundreds of times bigger than we are today, so we see no need to try to do other things as well," DeConti said.

Still, not everyone is sold on the need to jettison the ALSP label. Ram Vasudevan, CEO of QuisLex, believes that legal consumers ultimately make decisions based on the level and sophistication of the service rather than a name. In his view, companies would be better served by focusing on getting more publicity and drawing attention to case studies that demonstrate their functionality and services.

"All of these [terms] are shiny pennies because new law is going to become old law fairly quickly," Vasudevan said.

Also, while the term ALSP may not always conjure a favorable comparison, it does tend to be immediately recognizable even to people who may not be deeply immersed in the legal industry. Joey Seeber, CEO of Level 2 Legal Solutions, uses different terms depending on the audience he's addressing.

"[If] I find myself communicating in legal circles where people understand the landscape, I don't use 'alternative.' I'll use 'law company.' Or 'legal services company.' … At this point in the evolution I find that there's not one [term] that fits every situation," Seeber said.

Whatever legal service providers elect to call themselves, don't expect law firms to undergo a rechristening of their own. Instead, Jarno Vanto, a partner at Crowell & Moring, expects that firms may focus on updating their existing operations or explore "alternative" services of their own. One possibility? Offerings developed for startups or emerging companies that can't afford the traditional pricing structure. Those types of innovations will be balanced with reliable standbys.

"It's not just that there's 'new law' and there's 'old law.' It really comes down to older, more traditional law firms also in some ways moving in that direction of keeping certain bet-the-house type of litigation work, cybersecurity, [and] privacy [work]," Vanto said.