Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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SIXTH ANNUAL /ACC GENERAL COUNSEL ROUNDTABLE more junior lawyers or also to use other legal staff, as well, in terms of reducing some of the costs. this expectation that certain law firms are going to do more for less, the value equation, and yet I think sometimes, as general counsel, we expect that our budget will grow. I think the expecta- tion should be on us, too, to find more efficient ways to do things internally, to find equations around talent, flexibil- ity, and work arrangements. I think we have not addressed, as general counsel, on how we manage our own groups, to keep that budget flat or actually have it decline. GARCIA: In my end, obviously, I mean manufacturing has been hit pretty hard over the last couple of years, so one of the keys for me was getting a deduc- tion. And I did manage to get a little bit of a discount from our major law firms, as well, of between 10 to 20 per cent, so that was quite successful. Also working with them on a strategy to try to use SIEVWRIGHT: We have had arrange- ments where a law firm has been very helpful on a number of occasions, with secondments, so if somebody has gone on mat-leave or somebody has been ill, the firm has provided a legal resource, actually, at the same salary that the per- son that's left would have been receiv- ing. It has also been great because we've actually had people that we brought in full-time, hired from the secondment. We also get discounts, for sure, and I know we've had a very robust process going out for RFPs for counsel, looking for a lot of value added in a number of ways, in terms of how they bill. KREBS: We have our initiative, the ACC's value challenge. And there is quite a bit going on there, and we have quite a few resources available on that, but what we are seeing is companies and law firms are in different plac- es. Some are focusing on discounted arrangements; others are moving away from billable hour as the default mech- anism for billing, and at least looking and exploring various types of flat-fee arrangements or some type of incen- tive arrangements or taking different approaches, and we see firms offering up a variety. FISHER: One of the myths of mov- ing from a large law firm context to becoming in-house counsel is that you don't have to be marketing any longer. We are constantly marketing the value of the law department to our manage- ment. GAUDI: In my situation I have nego- tiated all of those things. I've had a lawyer on secondment, which was fan- tastic, and I hope to do it again. I've had a summer student donated to me by one of our partner firms, which was even more fantastic because that was free. I have negotiated flat-fee arrange- ments for discrete tasks . . . and dis- counts, especially during the recession. It was very appreciated when our part- ner firms gave us discounts during the recession. It helped us out a lot and I think it built a lot of loyalty with them, so it is a win-win. INHOUSE: The role of in-house counsel inside their organizations is growing, according to several sur- veys, including a very recent one by Deloitte. What do you believe are the reasons behind this trend? GARCIA: I think, especially as the only legal officer for the company, you are basically involved in a lot of the major decisions, a lot of the different depart- ments to the point that no one else is. You see the bigger picture more than most people do, who focus on their department or their objectives. You have a wider perspective. You under- stand the regulations. You understand some of the problems that could arise with certain decisions. You are able to provide that strategic advice upfront. So I think you are in a very privileged When you need a law firm that's plugged into your business... Untitled-1 1 INHOUSE AUGUST 2011 • 6/27/11 9:02:19 AM 19 I N H OU S E