I have learned that trying to guess what the boss or the
client wants is the most debilitating of all influences in the creation of good
advertising.
Leo Burnett
I took a bit of liberty in using Mr. Burnett’s quote,
applied to the advertising industry. But
the concept, if a word or two is changed out, applies just as well to the
attorney/client relationship. I have
learned that trying to guess what the boss or the client wants can be a most
debilitating influence in the creation of a healthy attorney/client
relationship.
So what does the in-house lawyer client want from her outside counsel? In-house lawyers want VALUE for their money, not cheap
fees. But what does it take to deliver
value to an in-house team of lawyers, especially a small law department with
little in the way of benchmarking tools and fancy matter management systems?
Upon arrival at a new company, a good in-house lawyer takes
some time to learn the business. The
newly retained outside lawyer should follow the in-house lawyer’s lead and do
the same. The general counsel should
expect the outside lawyer to research the company as much as possible using
public sources, then spend some time with the general counsel to learn how she
does business; gauge her interests, plans and strategic goals for the
department; learn where she (and her department) fit into the business; learn
how outside counsel has been used in the past; and find out where she sees the
future of the inside/outside “partnership.”
Then it is time to learn how the actual business operates -
what does it do, how does it do it? What
are the business weaknesses and where does potential legal exposure lurk? The general counsel should introduce the
outside lawyers to the key players in the organization. By this I do not necessarily mean the C-Level
folks or even vice presidents. Rather,
the general counsel should introduce outside lawyers to the people with whom
the outside lawyers will regularly work on matters. The small department lawyer must leverage the
business resources to provide the needed information to the outside people so
that her day is spent performing legal work, not gathering documents and
performing administrative tasks to keep the outside lawyer busy.
Integral to creating a relationship based on value is developing a protocol for communication between the outside and
inside legal teams, one that may include the business people. Word of caution: do not open the floodgate by
inviting the business client to call the outside lawyer “any time they have a
question.” Your outside legal team will be on the phone constantly with your
business people and they WILL bill this time.
So, the inside team should always serve as the conduit for contact with
the external legal resources. Open communication will
serve the general counsel well in several ways:
She will be personally (or through her team) aware of potential legal
issues developing; she will have an opportunity to put an internal resource on
the problem right away to try and resolve it before it requires expertise or
time commitment beyond that available to her via in-house sources; she will
be aware of the matters that her team is addressing; and, billings will be
monitored, controlled and minimized.
A very important element for a value based inside/outside relationship is
the development of trust. Trust is
gained on both sides through positive day to day, or issue to issue, experiences. Each side of the
relationship must be wholly open and communicative about their thoughts,
concerns and expectations. There is a
social element to building trust as well. There is nothing wrong with spending down time with your outside
firms. However, it would be terribly
foolish to compromise your decision making on behalf of your client due to the
social interaction you have with your outside firms. Lawyers, though, are particularly adept at
keeping business and pleasure separate to ensure such compromises do not take
place.
As a legal matter develops, it can change, the expectations,
goals and expected outcomes and means to the end may need to be adjusted as a
result. Neither side should bury their
respective heads in the sand and avoid uncomfortable conversations. For a healthy, long-term relationship,
expectations and deliverables must regularly be updated to reflect changing
circumstances.
In closing, let me reiterate the most important points
mentioned above – communication with and education about the client, about how
the client operates, about expectations and about changing game plans. Following these elementary rules will go a
long way in developing and nurturing a valuable, long term, trusting relationship.
