Canadian Lawyer InHouse

june 2014 22 INHOUSE — they should be an entity in and of themselves because fi nance people will focus on fi nance. The legal people, while we try to reach into all areas of consideration, by na- ture, we will focus more on the legal issues. It is a facilitator between departments, and would coordinate the considerations of risk within the company. inhouse: Are you using alternative billing or fee arrangements with external fi rms? mcle an : We're using a different model, but I'm not sure it's really unique in other industries by any means. We are subcon- tracting staff and some of our legal services, through a staff augmentation arrangement. We're both blessed and cursed with being in an industry that can be extremely vola- tile. In the oil and gas drilling business, it has its ups and downs, so we need to be scal- able, and we need to be able to ramp up and ramp down to support the business initia- tives that are taking place. We're constantly outsourcing on a project-by-project basis because there are just certain things that lend themselves to outside expertise, versus certain things that we want to use critical in-house legal resources where it's necessary to have a higher level of understanding of the products of the business. We've brought in a lawyer on a four-day- a-week basis temporarily to support some of the commercial work we're doing, and that's worked out well. I think we will continue to look at outsourcing arrangements like that in the future for some of the higher volume work that is there on a semi-regular basis. We've also, not so subtly, hinted to our tra- ditional law fi rms that they need to start adopting those processes as well, particu- larly on the prior art searches when we're doing freedom-to-operate opinions. inhouse: What's the feedback been from the law fi rms? mclean: Well, it's all been positive, actu- ally. I think a lot of it is going to take time to actually see some of the benefi ts. But the more we pressure outside law fi rms, I think the more they understand they're simply going to lose the work if they can't become more effi cient. Unfortunately, the billable- hour structure is a huge hurdle, and some of the profi t centres that the big law fi rms have in their associates takes a lot of unwinding to get back to a place where they can look at how to deliver value most effectively be- cause they're not set up for that right now. That said, if the transaction is large enough, they're often willing to work with you to try and do a scoping exercise without billing you. Another alternative fee arrangement I was really happy with was rolling out a new equity plan, a phantom equity plan for our international subsidiaries where it was a little more diffi cult for them to participate in the stock option plan. We had an Argentine law fi rm that provides our corporate services to our Argentine subsidiary quarterback that project using its network of Latin American inhouse: alternative billing or fee arrangements inhouse: alternative billing or alternative billing or fee arrangements inhouse: fee arrangements inhouse: alternative billing or alternative billing or With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. More detail and a wider scope of legal contact information for Ontario than any other source: ȕ 0WFS27,000 lawyers listed ȕ 0WFS9,000 law firms and corporate offices listed ȕ 'BYBOEUFMFQIPOFOVNCFSTFNBJM BEESFTTFTPGȮDFMPDBUJPOTBOEQPTUBM DPEFT Includes lists of: ȕ Federal and provincial judges ȕ Federal courts, including a section for federal government departments, boards and commissions ȕ Ontario courts and services, including a section for provincial government ministries, boards and commissions ȕ Small claims courts ȕ Miscellaneous services for lawyers Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation 1FSGFDUCPVOEȕ1VCMJTIFE December each year On subscription $74 One time purchase $77 L88804-626 Multiple copy discounts available Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. 2014 ONTARIO LAWYER'S PHONE BOOK THE MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS ntitled-3 1 14-01-10 12:21 PM — they should be an entity in and of themselves because fi nance people will focus on fi nance. The legal people, while we try to reach into all areas of consideration, by na- mcle an : inhouse: inhouse: inhouse: inhouse: inhouse:

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