Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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representing the outside party clearly . . . had no understanding of our business in his discussions with me. And then when I looked up on this law firm's web site who I am speaking to, who has been phoning me with these ridiculous arguments, he called himself a video game expert. . . . I am in a field that has become extremely, I guess, lucrative, and I just find that this is very specific to my situation. But all these law firms, they will sometimes respond to trends in the marketplace with their own little group that will be dedicated to that area. So, a lot of the, I guess, technology, intellec- tual property, trademark, copyright law- yers are now . . . a subgroup are calling themselves video game experts and they have a video game group. And I guess it Jim Vibert senior counsel Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. LLOYD: Well, just as our business groups on the sales side have been asked by external clients to respond to [request for proposals] a little more often than before the economy turned, we conducted an RFP-type process for our panel counsel . . . there were a number of larger firms that we already knew we would probably continue a relationship with. But then on a regional basis across the country, there were some smaller firms that we wanted to be able to call upon if there was litigation specific to that jurisdiction because we recognized in a lot of cases that the big city Toronto lawyer is not going to be welcome in the local courtroom. And so, we wanted to have regional expertise. So, we did do sort of an RFP process. And we did find that the law firms were responsive and were trying to address the expertise and cost needs of our department. really bothered me because . . . clearly, this gentleman had no idea what he was talking about and I felt like people like that would benefit from this type of secondment situation, where they could actually see what goes on. And I guess it really bothered me that people do call themselves an expert in these areas. And the law firms, who similarly have no idea about this type of industry because it is so new, will feed into that. INHOUSE: What are some other tools you are using to control legal spend? VIBERT: In Canada . . . we didn't go through the RFP process, but we approached each firm a number of years ago and have discounts off of normally charged rates for the work that we sent them. And that being said, it is just some- thing that is part of our culture. It is not something that . . . we are going to wait for hard times to try and drive cost savings. It is kind of . . . a daily thing. And as times pick up, we are still going to be doing it. KREBS: Certainly the things like dis- counts and blended rates and things. They all come out of the billable hour and relate to that. And there has been significant pressure in that area. But we are also seeing change to move away from the billable hour, and to look at ways. But this requires new ways of thinking by both the inside and the out- side counsel, because for most in-house lawyers that is the only way they have ever thought or been exposed to a busi- ness model and thought that way. And so, they need to develop ways to value and determine what their cost structure is, how they value it, [and] what they wish to pay. And then outside firms also have to be willing to make changes and look at how they do busi- ness and change in their business mod- els. And we are seeing that, indeed, for . . . maybe the smaller departments . . . I would say, in some ways the firms are somewhat ahead of some of . . . ahead of the willingness to offer and to explore new ways to do business. And some of the reticence has actu- ally been from some of the smaller departments and folks, because they are not quite sure, "How am I going to do this?" And, "How do I value this?" And so, there is a learning process that is taking place on both sides. IH Recording and transcription services provided by Victory Verbatim Reporting Services Inc. of Toronto. See more about the roundtable including videos at www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse INHOUSE OCTOBER 2009 • 23