Page 30 - 2018 October Bar Journal

BarJournal ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

JULY/AUGUST 2015
fEaTUrE In-House Counsel Perspectives

on growing a More Effective

Partnership with Outside Counsel

BY LISA SuTTON, KATY FRANZ & JILL BAuTISTA

s in-house environmental Keep in mind, law firms are “just another ven- — and provide spend and other data to us as re-
counsel at Eaton, we wanted dor” to our businesses. quested. Meet your budgets and forecasts (and we
to focus our article on spe- This is a humbling statement and is not intended do understand there’s an art to this process versus
cific insights and tangible to be disrespectful, but when it comes to Cor- science). Here’s the thing: we, in-house counsel,
A suggestions that we can offer porate America’s relationship to law firms, you are accountable on a monthly basis to meet bud-
our outside counsel colleagues, versus obvi- are really “just another vendor” in our supply gets and provide as accurate as possible forecasts.
ous or esoteric commentary. We come at this chain world. As such, law firms are subject to the We are actively measuring and reporting this
with combined in-house experience of about same expectations as a supplier of steel, chemical performance all along the way. We cannot be suc-
30 years. We are by no means the experts, but products, or wastewater services. Yes, you offer cessful without your deep management and part-
have come across some valuable insights and unique and valuable professional services, but nership on these issues.
lessons learned across the way from working you, as the relationship attorney, must help your
with you, our businesses, and other corporate inside team by ensuring the law firm’s processes When we say inclusion, diversity, environmen-
staff functions, covering both general inside- align with company supply chain expectations — tal sustainability and social responsibility mat-
outside relationship issues, along with a few most prominently, cost-efficiency or “cost-out” ter, we really do mean it.
environmental-based take-aways. To better requirements. These concepts were at one time a As you may know, like many of your clients, Ea-
serve our shared Company client, we offer the bit foreign to law firms (as they were to in-house ton values an inclusive and diverse (I&D) work-
following suggestions for in-house/outside le- counsel), but as most appreciate now, these supply force and we hire outside counsel with a similar
gal teams to provide more powerful, efficient chain requirements are the price of doing business commitment. This is not only a matter of straight
and accountable legal support. with us. So, how can you help specifically? First, staffing metrics but providing your diverse team
ensure that soup-to-nuts billing requirements are members with meaningful retention, mentor-
We are strategic partners with shared perfor- deployed and met throughout the law firm. These ship, business, and leadership opportunities at the
mance and accountability. requirements include staffing, general invoicing, firm. For example, we actively support and mea-
At the risk of stating the obvious, in-house time/format of invoices, authorized/unauthorized sure the number of diverse lead counsel on Eaton
and outside counsel together must provide charges, and time-to-pay expectations. Second, matters. Firms that show a similar commitment
our Company with stellar, responsive, and we expect firm client relationship attorneys to en- get more Eaton work — it’s that simple. Likewise,
cost-effective legal professional services. The sure understanding and deployment throughout firms that do not support our I&D efforts (in-
business often views all of the “lawyers” as the each of the law firm’s departments in the same cluding firms that fail to provide requested diver-
same — no distinction between in-house and way that we, with you, have accountability to our sity information on our cases or do not meet our
outside counsel. As such, the legal team must supply chain teams for the same. diverse staffing expectations) will not get future
understand and share joint objectives to meet Eaton work. We review these I&D considerations
the needs of the Company. To be effective, Yes, a lot of this is about cost. with the placement of every single Eaton mat-
you have to know our Company, values, busi- Of course, right? But you can really help us and ter. Likewise, as we hope you know, Eaton has
nesses, products and services, organizational the business here. And here’s the thing: there’s a a long-standing and deep commitment to envi-
structure, and how we “work.” We want our good and understandable reason for all this cost ronmental sustainability and social responsibility.
outside counsel involved in our annual goal pressure. Our business faces it every day and we, We seek to work with legal partners who share in
and strategic planning, aligning with Law De- as lawyers, need to not only say we appreciate these commitments “outside of the law.”
partment and Company objectives. We want that but tangibly do something about it. From
to be brain-partners with outside counsel on the inside end, our commitment to our business Thinking beyond the “environmental silo.”
our cases or projects. We want outside coun- partners is to be as efficient as possible when it One comment in-house counsel periodically
sel to transparently share mistakes and lessons comes to legal fees — specifically, to establish and hears is the essential need for us to more broadly
learned from your experiences to guide our meet cost-effective budgets and to think creative- consider business or other legal issues that go
go-forward (and we are indeed willing to share ly about alternative cost or staffing arrangements beyond our specific environmental silo. Environ-
ours too within the bounds of confidentiality). on cases/projects. We truly savor being partners mental issues (operational or legacy/remedial)
Across the board, we believe these efforts pro- with you based on what you see across your cli- commonly trigger other legal issues, whether la-
vide our client, the Company, with the best ent bases as to effective ways to manage services bor, safety, real estate, or commercial. An outside
work product. and costs. Help us with budgets and forecasting counsel who can help their in-house partner iden-
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