Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50877
work offshore to places like India come next. For law firms hoping to cash in on the corporate world's increased workloads, the primary concern for in-house counsel when dealing with legal service providers hasn't changed in the past year: be more concerned with costs. Legal departments also want outside firms to be more practical and commercial, and to better understand their clients' needs. Of equal concern, in-house lawyers want outside law firms What are the strategies you favour most for reducing legal spending? 1 More work brought inside 2 New agreement with outside counsel 3 Reduced workforce 4 Salary cuts 5 Sent legal work offshore (i.e. India) to be more proactive, creative, innovative, and concerned with results. "That theme has been in all sorts of surveys through North America for at least 10 years now," says Bell. There is a general expectation that corporate legal depart- ments will have more work in 2010 than in 2009, says BTI Consulting Group president Michael Rynowecer. He says work is being taken care of in-house through key strategies including the idea of triage — less important work receives less of a prior- ity. Such changes are a result of legal departments facing average budget decreases of between seven and 20 per cent. "The num- ber one driver behind decision-making for corporate counsel is risk avoidance and the number one goal is cost control," he says. Risk avoidance is fueled by legislation and a demand for more Is the volume of legal work carried out by your department and external counsel combined likely to grow for your company in 2010 from 2009? due diligence. As a result, legal departments are demanding law firms have a better grasp of their client's businesses. "They want them to bring knowledge of the law and the corporation. Give legal advice applying specifically to the company and avoid generic legal advice." It's understandable if this is news to law firms as fewer than 28 per cent of respondents said they were asked to take part in a client satisfaction survey from their outside counsel in the past year. This issue was canvassed in Canadian Lawyer's 2008 poll as written surveys only. We included phone and in-person sur- veys in this year's poll, yet the numbers did not dramatically rise. "I think it is horrific and it just keeps playing out," says Bell. However, she says simply asking the question isn't enough, followup is almost more important for law firms when conduct- 51% Stay the same Will your budget for the next year be increased, reduced, or stay the same? 29% Reduced 20% Increased ing satisfaction surveys. "I attribute the reluctance or the failure to conduct these kinds of surveys in any form, but certainly something that is tangible or recorded so you can examine the analysis so you can share it and reflect on it, is we are not good on a whole bunch of elements of running the business. In terms of planning, investing, responsiveness, making sure we know the client and prospect inside out to be responsive, be proactive in understanding where they are going and what they need." Other survey questions include asking who is doing the bulk Stay the same 4% No 48 • DECEMBER 2009/JANUARY 2010 37% 59% Yes of the work for in-house counsel and whether or not that was likely to change next year. Nearly 87 per cent of respondents said one to five firms received 80 per cent of their outside work. Nearly 80 per cent of respondents said they had not changed one of their top legal service providers in the past two years. Half of the in-house lawyers surveyed said they would be reviewing their financial relationship with their top outside law firm in the next six to nine months. Only 19.5 per cent said their lead law firm clearly provides better services than its closet competitor. IH For more on the survey go to: http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/surveys INHOUSE