Nobody likes the term beauty parade.

For some, the words 'cattle market' better describe the competitive tendering process that clients use to select law firms.At these 'dog and pony shows', as they are known in the US, the contestants appear before judges, do their best to impress, and then go home to await the verdict.It may sound like second nature for lawyers, but there is a difference.

In this context, they are not fighting for their clients -- they are fighting to win business.The problem is 'you have to go and sell and demean yourself', says Paul Smith, Eversheds' partner and board member.It can be a complex process.

Formal tenders follow a review of the legal function, and end in written tenders and interviews with shortlisted firms.But the term has also come to include the more common -- less formal -- pitch, described by Bird & Bird partner David Kerr as 'a client turning up'.While there is some difference between formal competitive tenders, and less formal 'soundings out' of new firms with possible retention for future business, there is little difference in what the client is hoping to achieve by soliciting new firms as part of a review of legal outsourcing arrangements.Whatever the definition, beauty parades are a worrying time for existing panel firms who are asked to pitch, but an exciting opportunity for new firms to muscle in on the action.Edge International consultant Stuart Benson says: 'Personally, I'm not a great fan of beauty parades in the formal sense.'But Mr Kerr says the activity is so frenetic that he is involved in pitches at least twice a week, although his firm is involved in many more.'They are very common.

It is an accepted way of selecting law firms,' agrees Berwin Leighton partner Richard Lucas.Mr Smith says there is some inconsistency in what general counsel say about their distaste for parading their firms, and what the market is telling him: 'The reality is we are doing more than we ever did.

We are constantly preparing, pitching, re-tendering and pitching for the first time.'But Mr Benson warns firms not to bank on this work continuing, because there may be a recession.

He says: 'During the 1980s, there was a huge amount of work around and the magic circle-type firms were getting more and more busy, and bein g more selective about what they took on.

Then the recession set in and they wanted to hang on to the work.'He forecasts this might happen again: 'Clients are getting fed up with the huge expense.

Magic circle firms are charging about £500 an hour.

They won't pay that for the more bog-standard work.

It will be interesting in a year or two, when there is a slowdown and the work will tail off.' Meanwhile, the review and rationalisation of law-firm panels have produced more opportunities to pitch.However, Peter Weber, company secretary at fashion retailer Next, says: 'I've never held a beauty parade.

I don't believe in them.

What you get to see is what they want you to see.' He uses Simmons & Simmons and Eversheds for corporate work, as well as Kimble & Co in Milton Keynes and has a five-strong in-house department.

He relies on contacts built up over 17 years in practice.

He says: 'I say to them: "My dear boys, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon".'But there are many reasons why clients decide to examine outsourcing arrangements, from changing business needs through to cutting legal spend.Corporate activity such as acquisitions often leaves companies with a confusing patchwork of law firms on panels.

Not only is this difficult to manage, but also the client is losing out on any volume discounts it could negotiate.A parade might also be organised for a one-off litigation, or if a company is expanding into uncharted territory.

On other occasions, its usual firm has been conflicted out.

What companies are looking for is the best law firm they can hire for the lowest price.The panel will be selected by geography and practice area.

The blue-chip corporate client is likely to pick a magic circle firm for hostile bids, a second top-level corporate firm in case of conflicts, and then firms for practice areas such as property, employment and information technology and intellectual property.In many cases, the client and law firm will know each other, but it is the introductions that create the flesh-market ambience.

Mr Kerr says the selection process is a two-way thing: 'All firms have to be very careful about the process of taking on any new clients.'Mr Smith says it is not a good idea to attempt to impress potential clients by blinding them with technical knowledge.

Although an in-house lawyer will judge many parades, some companies bring in procurement professionals to choose outside lawyers.

Mr Smith says he once used a chocolate biscuit to explain how Eversheds planned to run its European network.Mr Smith prefers to focus on service delivery.

'They want to know if you can provide the service on an ongoing basis at a very high standard,' he argues.But Mr Lucas says clients want a firm to demonstrate how it would apply technical legal expertise to problems that might arise in the interview.The temptation to bring along people the client will never see again should be resisted.

Although presentation training is now common in City firms, there is resistance to the US idea of hiring actors, known as 'empty suits', to sell the firm.Mr Smith argues that in some cases 'you don't really want to see the people who are doing the work', but adds that, because 'people buy people', clients do expect to see their real lawyers at the presentation.Before he became a lawyer, Mr Smith was an entertainer.

He has done stand-up, Punch and Judy, and cabaret.

'I love doing beauty parades with [fellow Eversheds partner] Peter [Norbury],' he says, 'because he is very good at reading the body language.

We are a double act.'Even for perfo rmers like Mr Smith, face-to-face pitches are made more stressful by the knowledge that your rivals are doing the same.He says: 'It's quite scary because you go into a room of strangers, and there will be other law firms before and after you, waiting for their turn.

You meet people for the first time and you have to see if you have got any chemistry.

It's like a cattle market.'However, cross-sector, in-house lawyers have articulated their dislike for the high-handedness of the cattle market.Surveys suggest that only about 11% of companies select UK firms using formal beauty parades, while most will use a firm they already know or have been recommended by a colleague.It is clear that clients still prefer the old-fashioned introduction method of meeting their partner.

But in a competitive world where the hiring and firing of law firms is an everyday reality, many more clients are meeting the law firm of their dreams through informal introductions.