Canadian Lawyer InHouse

LAW DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT TAKING CONTROL OF THE Every year, retail giant Target brings the "best and the brightest" from its external law firms together in Minneapolis for a two-day outside counsel conference. This event, held in November, is now in its sixth year and invitations are con- sidered an honour, if you're performing well. If not, it's an entirely different experience, but still worth the trip. "We don't invite everyone but our 15 best firms are included. Two CLIENT FEEDBACK PROCESS of the best people from the firms are invited and they must interact together. The first time we did this it was almost awkward for the first day — we made them work together on presentations to pres- ent to us," says Eric Sjoding, director and assistant general counsel, employee and labour relations for Target Canada. "We leverage a lot of different firms and we expect them to work col- laboratively together," he says. ing a large firm in California and another in Minnesota. Getting them to work together is aided by having a matter-management system in the middle where they can upload documents and file share. "We're doing the same thing in Canada and working with three dif- ferent firms on a matter to create one central depository of documents that will be produced in that case as a central resource, The idea of such an interaction might make some firms squirm with discomfort, but it is a process Target's legal department feels has made its outside legal business more responsive to the retailer's needs. " he says. in Minneapolis. For the two or three firms not at the top of the score- card, an invitation is extended to stay an extra day in Minneapolis, after the conference, to discuss how things can improve. "We go through the scorecard and have a tough conversation The firm with the best results is recognized at the annual meeting with them and set up expectations of where they are going to be in providing overall service and on things like diversity and gender metrics," says Sjoding, noting it's a preferred method over cutting them off and trying to establish a new relationship with another firm. "If it means kicking a partner off if the rest of the team can be salvaged that's absolutely something we have done and will continue to do, even if it's the billing partner. and measures how they are performing in a number of areas. It starts with a self-review by the law firm, much like what happens with any Target employee performance review. Target also conducts annual reviews with each firm it works with " For example, in nationwide class actions in the U.S., Target is leverag- Firms are trying to improve review processes with key clients, but retailer Target decided it wanted to conduct the reviews and hand out the report cards. By Jennifer Brown CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 • 39

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