Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external...

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Client Development Martindale- Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes Institute Presentation at CIS Local Counsel Forum Kiev, 24.06.2009

Transcript of Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external...

Page 1: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

How in-house counsel in CEEselect and retain their

external counselBy Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes Institute

Presentation at CIS Local Counsel Forum

Kiev, 24.06.2009

Page 2: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

Download a free copy of this survey at:

www.martindale-hubbell.co.uk (upper right hand corner of the page)

Continue this discussion online at:www.martindale.com/connected

Page 3: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

What this presentation will cover

• Demographics• Selecting external counsel• Retaining external counsel• Removing external counsel• Client service• Summary• Action steps

Page 4: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell

CEE countries that participated in this survey (Table 1)

Page 5: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell Industry sectors represented in this

survey (Table 2)

Page 6: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell Where companies operate

geographically (Table 3)

Page 7: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

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Martindale-Hubbell

Number of employees (Table 5)

Page 8: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell Size of legal departments - full-time

employees (Table 7)

Page 9: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellNumber of law firms employed (Table

10)

Page 10: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellExternal law firms’ share of the wallet

(Table 11)

Page 11: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell

Preferred billing terms (Table 16)

“The trend is away from the billable hour. Our CFO need to know the total cost. So we try for a fixed rate and if this is not possible

then we negotiate a cap. This is common even for litigation.”

Page 12: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellWorking with foreign or local law firms

(Table 17)

Page 13: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellHiring foreign instead of local law firms

(Table 19)

Page 14: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellHiring local instead of foreign law firms

(Table 20)

Page 15: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell

Law firm panels (Table 21)

Page 16: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellCriteria for selecting external counsel

(Table 22)

“A legal technician reviews a contract and says if it ok from a legal point of view. But a trusted advisor knows how to protect our

company regarding its strategy and business interests.”

Page 17: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell Key factors for retaining external

counsel (Table 24)

“I don’t like external counsel who are too cautious and don’t want to take any risk by just confirming an opinion created by my

internal team.”

Page 18: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

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Removing a law firm from a preferred provider list (Table 25)

“Legal mistakes are made and you deal with that. But non-legal mistakes such as missing deadlines or not communicating

properly, I don’t really need this.”

Page 19: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell

Uncovering client needs (Table 27)

“Lawyers do not approach their practice as a business. When they act like they are in an ivory tower they lose out. I would welcome

them to come up with new ideas for cooperation.”

Page 20: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellConducting client satisfaction surveys

(Table 28)

“You are the first person (speaking to the author of this survey) that has actually come to my office to talk to me about these

matters.”

Page 21: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-Hubbell Participating in client satisfaction

surveys (Table 29)

“It would be great for our law firm to have someone talk to me about our relationship but no one has done that yet. This is

strange because we consider customer information vital to our

business.”

Page 22: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

A Client Development Solution

Martindale-HubbellInternal satisfaction surveys regarding

external counsel (Table 26)

“On an annual basis our headquarters asks us if we are satisfied with our external counsel. And even small warnings can build up

over time and the firm gets removed from our list.”

Page 23: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

Summary

• CEE legal market like USA 20 years ago • Clients are saying: “Where is the ‘service’

from legal service providers?• Very little ‘best practice’ in terms of client

service• In-house counsel more business-minded• Opportunities for law firms willing to take

action• Challenges for law firms unwilling to change

Page 24: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-HubbellActions that will give you a competitive

advantage

• Measure client satisfaction (set up formal program)

• Review strategy and plans based on feedback

• Provide training/coaching for service/bd skills

Page 25: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

Download a free copy of this survey at:www.martindale-hubbell.co.uk

(upper right hand corner of the page)

Continue this discussion online at:www.martindale.com/connected

Information about Jeffrey Forbes’ services:

www.forbesinstitute.com

Page 26: Client Development Martindale-Hubbell How in-house counsel in CEE select and retain their external counsel By Jeffrey Forbes, Executive Director, Forbes.

Client Development

Martindale-Hubbell

Thank you for your attention.

CIS Local Counsel Forum

Kiev, 24.06.2009