Canadian Lawyer InHouse

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2018 8 INHOUSE News Roundup of my dismissal fair and reasonable? Has this been dealt with properly?" Employers might wonder if they're erring too far one way or the other and might be overpaying a terminated employee. "In a lot of ways, what happens now is there's a fairly significant gap in many cases between what happens in practice and what the legal entitlements might be in a lot of circumstances," he says. The product will help lawyers provide advice to both employers and employees, and it aims to increase the accuracy and speed with which lawyers can do so. "There's a lot of demand for guidance in this area for informational resources people can use to inform themselves," Alarie notes, adding that the program was just announced recently and Blue J Legal already has its first customer. "It came out of looking around at differ - ent areas of law and identifying areas where there are unmet needs in terms of getting advice quickly and easily and affordably and meeting that demand for access to jus- tice and transparency in advice." Le Blanc says his organization is "going through a massive transition" from a legacy broadcast model to a digital product model, and through rebuilding its business model there are opportunities to restructure how TVO delivers legal services internally, he says, adding that there's a high likelihood that that will include using Employment Foresight or other similar products. "We're looking at other products as well in other areas," he notes, such as contract templating tools the organization already has in place. "We're using these types of tools for sure. " For both Alarie and Le Blanc, this is the path forward in the legal profession. "We'll continue to build out additional capabilities in tax and in employment," Alarie says. "There are dozens of these questions we can answer in different legal areas and, of course, the ultimate goal is to build out these sorts of functionalities for all the areas of law." Le Blanc predicts every organization with a modest legal department will be using tools like this "because they're all stretched." "You can significantly move your risk down and focus on areas where you need to spend more time," he says. "I can take these tools and free up my time to deal with higher-value issues — that's how I see them, and they're inevitable. These are tools that we'll all be using many of in the future." IH Dentons launches consultancy for in-house counsel D entons has launched a new con- sulting service to address the "business pain points" and man- agement issues faced by in-house counsel. Announced on Nov. 15, Chris Pinning- ton, Dentons Canada chairman, will be CEO of Nextlaw In-House Solutions. Next- law is a separate Dentons organization that works directly with competitors of Dentons. In a press call, Pinnington said this ser- vice "goes beyond traditional legal services to embrace the full spectrum of what is increasingly known as a discipline in the in-house world around legal operations — technology and IT, finance and account - ing, even marketing and business develop- ment, talent management and risk manage- ment as well." The services offered will include: • Procurement and panel processes • Measuring impact of a legal team • Risk and compliance measurement • Crisis management • Career mentoring • Diversity • In-house on demand "We are clearly in a period of intense disruption in the legal industry — a pe - riod of real transformation, innovation and dramatic change," said Pinnington. "We at Dentons take pride in both being a dis- rupter and leading that transformation and change and Nextlaw In-house Solutions is a further dimension of that." While that disruption has primarily had law firms focused on the implications and pressures for them, Pinnington said per - haps more attention needs to be paid to how it's all affecting in-house counsel. "I'm not sure we've shone enough light and been as attuned to it as we believe we are and what that disruption means for in-house counsel," he said. "In-house increasingly represent the voice of the client, not just the in-house department as a procurer of legal services but the C-suite and the board." Pinnington said the initiative is also aimed at "getting us back on the same side of the table as in-house counsel and work - ing together to develop business solutions to business challenges." "Increasingly, the challenge for in-house counsel can be summarized as the quest to define, measure and ultimately deliver value to the organization. It's a conversation mov - ing beyond simply a matter of cost but dem- onstrating inherent value of the in-house legal function to overall business success." One of the technology components of the offering is the use of billing and matter management software called Apperio. The cost of the Nextlaw service will be determined through an individualized fee structure or subscription fee for technol - ogy services. "The one thing we are not focused on or embracing is any notion of the hourly rate or billable hour. This is all about value," said Pinnington. "We need to shift the conversation from cost to value. Our mis - sion is to work in partnership with in-house counsel to deliver that value. It won't be David Allgood

• Cover