On his legal marketing blog, Tom Kane, citing Internet marketing consultant Tom O'Leary states:

That may be a bit strong. But not too far off for law firms that market to consumers vs. corporate firms. Tom O’Leary, a law firm internet marketing consultant, reports his clients are telling him that they are doing much better with Google Local Listings than with their web sites. In fact, some of his clients don’t even care where their web site shows up in regular search results.

Warning: Lawyers, DO NOT ignore your visibility in organic results!

While there is no question that legal professionals that market to consumers should be concerned about their visibility within Google Places (or Google maps), there is also no question that the overwhelming majority of clicks on Google still take place on the organic listings. In a nutshell, ignoring, or not caring, about whether your website shows up in organic search listings is simply a mistake.

First, Google Places listings only appear for a segment of the the total search phrases that may generate targeted traffic to your website. If you are ignoring your visibility in organic results, you are missing out on many targeted legal service consumer searches.

Second, Google Places listings are in a constant state of flux. While there are certainly strategies that can be implemented to increase your visibility there, they are much less reliable than organic positions.

Third, while the local business listings do have prime placement on the results page and maps integration, they don't have detailed titles and descriptions. Therefore, while consumer that are looking for offices near their homes may prefer local listings, many others will still read and click the more detailed organic links.

Finally, at the present, the analytics tools and customer support provided from Google's Places team is wanting. Small changes can have a significant negative impact on your visibility in the local business results. This makes your local business listing fragile and subject to huge fluctuations in traffic.

The bottom line is that you should be focused on your visibility in Google Places however, you should absolutely not be ignoring your visibility in organic search engine results. If you do, there is no question that you will be missing out on a lot of new client opportunities.