Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

IN-HOUSE DISCONNECT Cont'd.

By Allan Colman, Managing Director, the Closers Group: www.closersgroup.com
September 11, 2007

Recent surveys telescope shifting client priorities. For example, INSIDE COUNSEL'S “18th Annual Survey of General Counsel,” published in July, 2007, shows a multi-level disconnect. On the one hand, there is the predicatble synapse between in-house and outside perceptions of 68% of outside counsel believe the level of service they provide has improved over the past five years, while only 29% of in-house counsel agree. Law firms are self-delusional, according to these data, as 62% gave themselves an “A” for overall performance over the past three years. Only 19% of in-house counsel scored them that high. Gulp!Yet consider the disconnect within in-house ranks that is also glaringly apparent from survey to survey. The INSIDE cOUNSEL survey reports that law firms focus on understanding client businesses and client exigencies as the surefire way to improve service. Indeed BTI's 2006 “Key Trends in Client Relationships and Satisfaction with Law Firms” taps enough in-house opinion to confirm the perception that such “client knowledge” is the direct route to superior and lasting client relationships.But then switch back to the INSIDE COUNSEL survey. There, in-house respondents emphatically said that reducing costs and improving efficiency are the overriding tasks for law firms seeking to solidify client relationships. Nowhere does this extremely specific priority appear on the BTI scale. We'll cover the possible explanations next time.

Recent surveys telescope shifting client priorities. For example, INSIDE COUNSEL'S “18th Annual Survey of General Counsel,” published in July, 2007, shows a multi-level disconnect. On the one hand, there is the predicatble synapse between in-house and outside perceptions of 68% of outside counsel believe the level of service they provide has improved over the past five years, while only 29% of in-house counsel agree. Law firms are self-delusional, according to these data, as 62% gave themselves an “A” for overall performance over the past three years. Only 19% of in-house counsel scored them that high. Gulp!Yet consider the disconnect within in-house ranks that is also glaringly apparent from survey to survey. The INSIDE cOUNSEL survey reports that law firms focus on understanding client businesses and client exigencies as the surefire way to improve service. Indeed BTI's 2006 “Key Trends in Client Relationships and Satisfaction with Law Firms” taps enough in-house opinion to confirm the perception that such “client knowledge” is the direct route to superior and lasting client relationships.But then switch back to the INSIDE COUNSEL survey. There, in-house respondents emphatically said that reducing costs and improving efficiency are the overriding tasks for law firms seeking to solidify client relationships. Nowhere does this extremely specific priority appear on the BTI scale. We'll cover the possible explanations next time.

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

Legal Possession: What Does It Mean? Image

Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.

The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions Image

UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?