Canadian Lawyer InHouse

25 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY 2015 spoke about the need for predictability and I think that refl ects the fact that everywhere else that's how things are unfolding and it creates a gap between our profession and everybody else. Girgis We do alternative billing as well. We have fi xed-fee arrangements, which are sort of not-to-exceed budgets. They're done by phase as well and sure, there are caveats, but you know in liti- gation there are caveats all the time. But it's a dialogue. I don't like surprises and now, as part of a bigger company, they certainly don't like surprises and stuff has to show up on P&Ls. You can't sell the business on the cost of something and go back later and say "Oops, I'm sorry, you know, it's an ex- tra couple of hundred thousand." That just doesn't work. Especially as we're a manufac- turer, if the manufacturing guys do a very good job of calculating labour rates, and calculating components, and calculating cycle times on injection mould machines, the least I can do is give them a ballpark about how much something's going to cost and not make it exceed. So, I think it's really about in-house counsel really communicat- ing with the outside counsels and just being very open and letting them understand this is the way it needs to work. We have, on occasion done RFPs — just recently we did three of them. They are specifi c and they're phase-related so you know what the staffi ng is going to be and what the billing rates are going to be. What's important is sometimes the law fi rms are concentrating so much on what they're going to be doing, they forget about the experts and the expenses that come associated with that which can blow your budget. Getting them to get into those details is key. In the past couple of weeks I've gone back to the law fi rm to really get into that scale of details. The partner is promising me that it's sitting right on top of his desk, but it's been two weeks, because it's hard, he has to fi gure out how many depositions am I going to do and do I really need four experts and how much are those experts? The devil is in the details and I think once I have that I'm better prepared, vis-à-vis the business people, to set them up for what the expectations are. Headon We've been saying this in the Futures discussion that the profession is going to have to work better with others to fi gure out how to produce things on an AFA basis that will still be profi table. There is real value that's being delivered, but I've been suggesting there is a bigger role for procurement in it, and they need to work with the in-house team, like they work with anybody else, but there's defi nitely a role they can play. IH CONNECT WITH IN-HOUSE COUNSEL COLLEAGUES AT LEXPERT.CA/CCCA Check out in-house counsel's best networking tool! The 2014/15 Lexpert CCCA/ACCJE Directory & Yearbook online edition is a user- friendly, outstanding key resource for all in-house counsel. Along with immediate access to more than 4,000 listees at more than 1,900 organizations, you'll DOVR´QGIUHVKHGLWRULDOFRQWHQW information on deals and links to important resources. Directory listees and CCCA members can also receive log-in credentials for access to detailed contact information to be able to connect with colleagues or research the in-house bar. ANYWHERE. ANYTIME. ON ANY DEVICE. Untitled-4 1 2015-03-02 9:12 AM

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