Budget: the investment is real and growing
Sixty-six point three percent of respondents reported an increase in their firm’s events budget. Respondents most commonly placed events at 10% to 35% of total marketing spend.
Amzai Research · Law Firms
Invested, Not Measured
What 415 marketing, business development and events professionals at AmLaw 200 firms report about client event investment, attribution and reporting
Client event budgets are rising while the reporting layer stays thin. Seventy-three point seven percent of respondents said their firm cannot attribute revenue to a specific event.
Published
Amzai Research
Research at a glance
- Qualifying respondents
- 415Qualifying respondents
- AmLaw 200 firms represented
- 130AmLaw 200 firms represented
- Cannot attribute revenue to an event
- 73.7%Cannot attribute revenue to an event
- Report a rising events budget
- 66.3%Report a rising events budget
About the report
Client events sit close to the most valuable relationships a law firm has. They take partner time, marketing budget and business development attention, and they are expected to support origination, client retention and referral activity.
We surveyed 415 marketing, business development and events professionals representing 130 US law firms ranked within the AmLaw 200 to understand how client event investment, data infrastructure, attribution and leadership reporting work in practice.
The pattern in the responses is consistent. Investment is rising, the plumbing between event activity and CRM data is fragmented, and measurement remains the gap that firms have not closed.
Headline findings
Unless otherwise stated, these findings are based on all 415 qualifying individual respondents rather than on 130 unique firms. Respondents could select up to three answers for some questions, so percentages may total more than 100%.
Attribution: revenue cannot be traced to an event
Seventy-three point seven percent of respondents said their firm cannot attribute revenue to a specific client event. Sixty-two point six percent said event data rarely or never reaches the CRM.
Reporting: leadership confidence is thin
Sixty-three point one percent of respondents are not confident in the event reporting that reaches firm leadership. Thirty-two point five percent still track events in spreadsheets and 12.5% have no CRM in use for events.
Explore the complete research
Download the full report for the complete findings, charts and analysis covering:
- Client event investment and budget direction
- Where events sit within total marketing spend
- Event data, CRM integration and the reporting layer
- Revenue attribution practices and gaps
- Confidence in reporting to firm leadership
- Ownership of events across marketing, BD and partners
- The one data point respondents most want
- What firms closing the gap do differently
Research methodology
Research overview
Invested, Not Measured is based on original research conducted by Amzai among 415 marketing, business development and events professionals representing 130 US law firms ranked within the AmLaw 200.
The research examined client event investment, event data and CRM infrastructure, revenue attribution practices, and the reporting that reaches firm leadership.
Research population
Participants were marketing, business development and events professionals working in US law firms ranked within the AmLaw 200, across three firm tiers: AmLaw 1–50, AmLaw 51–100 and AmLaw 101–200.
Participants held roles including:
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Chief Business Development Officer
- Marketing Director
- Business Development Director
- Events Director and Events Manager
- Marketing and BD manager roles
Data collection
Responses were collected between January 12 and April 21, 2026 through a structured 14-question online survey.
Participants were recruited through LinkedIn, email, Amzai’s proprietary database and its professional network. No financial incentives or other rewards were offered.
Amzai also conducted approximately 15-minute one-to-one interviews to provide qualitative context. These interviews were not included as separate responses in the quantitative survey results.
Qualification criteria
Respondents were required to meet all of the following criteria:
- Work for a US law firm ranked within the AmLaw 200
- Hold responsibility for client events, marketing or business development
- Have involvement in event planning, delivery, budget or reporting
- Submit a complete, qualifying survey response
Incomplete, non-qualifying and confirmed duplicate submissions from the same individual were excluded from the analysis.
Respondent-level and firm-level findings
Unless otherwise stated, percentages refer to the 415 qualifying individual respondents, not to 130 unique firms.
Multiple professionals from the same firm were permitted to participate and were treated as separate respondents.
Findings that describe firms reflect what respondents reported about their own firm. They were not independently verified at firm level and should be read as respondent-reported rather than audited firm data.
Analysis
For questions allowing multiple selections, respondents could choose up to three answers. Percentages for these questions may therefore total more than 100%.
No statistical weighting was applied to the results.
Where findings are reported by firm tier, the relevant base is identified in the report.
Research ownership
The research was designed, conducted, funded and analysed by Amzai.
Amzai owns the underlying research and prepared the report’s analysis, interpretations and recommendations.
Research independence
No external organisation commissioned the study, paid for inclusion or reviewed the findings before publication. Respondents were not paid or otherwise incentivised to participate.
Limitations
Participants were recruited from Amzai’s network rather than through a random sample of the entire US legal market. The findings should not be treated as statistically representative of every AmLaw 200 firm.
Responses were self-reported and were not independently verified against firm financial records, CRM data or event systems.
Publication details
- Research owner: Ashutosh Prasad, CEO, Amzai
- Analysis and publisher: Amzai Research
- Fieldwork: January 12–April 21, 2026
- Publication date:
- Last updated:
- Contact: ash@amzai.ai
Suggested citation
Amzai. (2026). Invested, Not Measured.
About Amzai
Amzai is a global event delivery partner that brings exceptional events to life.
Working across the entire event calendar as an extension of our clients’ teams, we provide the expertise needed across audience engagement, sponsorship, logistics, coordination and execution, using data and insight to make each event stronger than the last.
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