www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse 43
the most popular type. According
to O'Reilly, AFAs are necessary to ensure
that value is shown to the business, and
they may help to avoid the suggestion that
legal is an expensive overhead as opposed
to a cost-effective solution provider.
For his part, Nguyen says: "I don't think
there is sufficient education as to the
different types of fee arrangements that are
available. There should be internal education
within firms about the different types of fee
arrangements that can be made available
to their clients."
While 62.04 per cent said the general
counsel/legal department has the
autonomy to select law firms, 28.47 per
cent say it is a shared decision with
executive management.
"I have the autonomy to select which law
firms to work with, but it's not surprising
that not all GCs do," says Demone.
"I assume there are historical relationships
that need to be maintained at large organiza-
tions and banks, but I would assume that
even those GCs that don't have autono-
my probably have autonomy to request
a change of the current counsel."
Once again, risk management is the top
issue facing legal departments in 2019,
followed by compliance aspects, while
technology and workplace issues including
harassment and bullying are at the bottom
of the list of priorities. Building an in-house
team and legal department management
came in at number three. O'Reilly agrees
with the majority.
"As you look at what we're doing on a
day-to-day basis, one of our largest value
drivers is being that strategic offering for
analysis and understanding of risk,
and, given the nature of the business-
es, there is no shortage of risks arising
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