A general counsel has a dispute worth eight figures and a shortlist of four firms. She does what everybody does. She searches the names.
Three of them return a firm biography, a directory entry and a photograph taken against a grey wall. The fourth returns those things and two considered pieces, written by the partner himself, on the precise question keeping her awake.
She has not been persuaded of anything. She has simply started the meeting already knowing what he thinks.
Legal expertise is not scarce. Legal expertise a prospective client can find, read and understand before the first call is very scarce indeed — because most lawyers are billing rather than writing, and the few who do write tend to publish where only other lawyers look.