Page 86 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (q)
P. 86
Because there is a ton of attention to historical over-charging and over-spending with top-
line law firms, a trending in-house practice is to increase the scrutiny on and improve the
management of law firms. This can range from convergence projects that concentrate more work
with fewer firms that are more tightly regulated and partnered to align with the legal department,
to collecting data and developing strategies to concentrate attention on cost control, better work
processes, and project management. Because so much work and therefore so much of the
department’s expenses are concentrated on law firms, many departments are increasing their use
of technologies that allow them to better communicate and coordinate with their firms, from matter
management and e-billing systems, to knowledge management and collaboration platforms that
allow firms and clients to work more seamlessly as a team. While it’s clear that not as many
departments use these kinds of technologies as well or as fully as they should, and that even more
don’t use them at all, they are the focus of most department technology conversations (rather than
technologies that are limited in use to the in-house team), and they drive whatever data the in-
house team regularly collects.
2. Partnering legal work with law firms:
Both firm and department leaders will tell you that there should be a great partnership
between a firm and its corporate legal clients, but it’s only been in recent years that the talk has
been forced into practical application. There’s a rise in the number of departments bringing law
firm lawyers onto their staffs — for the duration of a large project, for instance, or as a tour or
rotation that is part of the firm lawyers’ advancement on the client relationship team. It’s also more
and more common to see matters staffed by a defined team of in-house and outside counsel who
operate on a virtual and highly collaborative plane; sometimes the demarcation between the in-
house and outside folks is blurred and seen as irrelevant in such a collaboration.
3. Staffing agencies and contract lawyers:
Many departments have drastically increased their use of staff lawyers and contract
lawyers. Once seen as second-class workers, these kinds of placement companies are now known
for peddling incredibly well-trained and sophisticated lawyers (partly because of the changing
economy and partly because of changing lifestyle interests of millennials, among various other
factors). Whether it’s to cover for a new parent or a caregiver who has to leave the workplace for
a few months; staff a regularly occurring task that’s only one day a week; or provide surge capacity
for an intense deal that’s snowballing toward deadline, being able to pick up a phone and have a
competent lawyer show up in two hours to stay for any relevant period (and then leave without
further obligations!) when no longer needed is incredibly efficient and convenient for department
leaders. While these lawyers used to just do document review or other mundane tasks, you can
now replace the need to retain expensive outside firms with a deeply competent staffing company
that can provide most any kind of worker expertise imaginable.
4. ABS — Alternative business structures — MDPs are coming!
As of this writing, a few jurisdictions have authorized the creation of ABS (alternative
business structure) firms that allow lawyers and other kinds of experts (whether via financing or
via the creation of a multidisciplinary practice, or MDP) to co-own/share profits in the same firm.
71
line law firms, a trending in-house practice is to increase the scrutiny on and improve the
management of law firms. This can range from convergence projects that concentrate more work
with fewer firms that are more tightly regulated and partnered to align with the legal department,
to collecting data and developing strategies to concentrate attention on cost control, better work
processes, and project management. Because so much work and therefore so much of the
department’s expenses are concentrated on law firms, many departments are increasing their use
of technologies that allow them to better communicate and coordinate with their firms, from matter
management and e-billing systems, to knowledge management and collaboration platforms that
allow firms and clients to work more seamlessly as a team. While it’s clear that not as many
departments use these kinds of technologies as well or as fully as they should, and that even more
don’t use them at all, they are the focus of most department technology conversations (rather than
technologies that are limited in use to the in-house team), and they drive whatever data the in-
house team regularly collects.
2. Partnering legal work with law firms:
Both firm and department leaders will tell you that there should be a great partnership
between a firm and its corporate legal clients, but it’s only been in recent years that the talk has
been forced into practical application. There’s a rise in the number of departments bringing law
firm lawyers onto their staffs — for the duration of a large project, for instance, or as a tour or
rotation that is part of the firm lawyers’ advancement on the client relationship team. It’s also more
and more common to see matters staffed by a defined team of in-house and outside counsel who
operate on a virtual and highly collaborative plane; sometimes the demarcation between the in-
house and outside folks is blurred and seen as irrelevant in such a collaboration.
3. Staffing agencies and contract lawyers:
Many departments have drastically increased their use of staff lawyers and contract
lawyers. Once seen as second-class workers, these kinds of placement companies are now known
for peddling incredibly well-trained and sophisticated lawyers (partly because of the changing
economy and partly because of changing lifestyle interests of millennials, among various other
factors). Whether it’s to cover for a new parent or a caregiver who has to leave the workplace for
a few months; staff a regularly occurring task that’s only one day a week; or provide surge capacity
for an intense deal that’s snowballing toward deadline, being able to pick up a phone and have a
competent lawyer show up in two hours to stay for any relevant period (and then leave without
further obligations!) when no longer needed is incredibly efficient and convenient for department
leaders. While these lawyers used to just do document review or other mundane tasks, you can
now replace the need to retain expensive outside firms with a deeply competent staffing company
that can provide most any kind of worker expertise imaginable.
4. ABS — Alternative business structures — MDPs are coming!
As of this writing, a few jurisdictions have authorized the creation of ABS (alternative
business structure) firms that allow lawyers and other kinds of experts (whether via financing or
via the creation of a multidisciplinary practice, or MDP) to co-own/share profits in the same firm.
71
