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Firm-Client Efficiencies: One GC's Long View

By Katheryn Hayes Tucker
August 30, 2007

'The No. 1 thing that helps us manage our outside counsel costs is longstanding relationships,' says James H. Miller III, senior vice president and general counsel for Georgia Power, the largest operating unit of Southern Co. 'Our principal law firm, Troutman Sanders, has been our law firm for a long time. They know as much or more about our company as some of our own executives do because they've been there longer. In a sense, they are our institutional memory.'

When Georgia Power calls Troutman Sanders, first-year associate pay [slated to rise to $145,000 in January 2008] is rather beside the point. Some of the partners who work with Georgia Power have been involved in the company's business for 25 or 30 years. 'That brings enormous efficiencies,' says Miller, who was named Georgia Power's first general counsel in 2004.

The energy company's legal depart- ment has only nine lawyers, including Miller. He is quick to point out the company's areas of expertise. 'I take a lot of pride telling people that the best land lawyers, the best easement and right-of-way lawyers in the state are at Georgia Power. That's where we also get great economies.'

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