What's Around the Corner for Law Firm Marketing?

As we ask 'What's around the corner for law firm marketing?' one look at the 2012 ACC Value Champions and two things come to mind: “value-focused legal management skills” and “innovation.” When reviewing the honorees and their submissions, I was struck by many surprising characteristics: The legal services were not all litigation-related; not all of the law firms were large multi-national law firms; and, not all cost reductions were based on volume or flat discounts ' just to name a few.

David Grumbine

As an example, Whirlpool's senior counsel and director of dispute resolution operations, David Grumbine, has been at the forefront of aligning cost and values for years. In the 1990s, Grumbine offered bonuses for early resolution of litigation cases. A few years ago, he made another bold move. Rather than hire an AmLaw 100 firm to defend the Fortune 500's class actions, he selected a litigation-boutique, regional firm: Wheeler Trigg O O'Donnell, LLP, located in Denver. Whirlpool immediately saved approximately 40% on class-action defense costs.

Cam Findlay

Another honoree, Cam Findlay, General Counsel at Medtronic, and the legal department implemented its Medtronic Preferred Provider Program (MP3), and succeeded in reducing the number of outside firms doing the vast majority of Medtronic's work from several hundred to fewer than 40. Medtronic also put in place numerous alternative fee agreements ' including contingency arrangements, fixed-fee arrangements, and risk-sharing devices ' to reduce volatility, improve predictability, and, most important, align firms' incentives with Medtronic. They even share the risks of litigation. In fiscal year 2011, Medtronic's total spending on outside counsel decreased 31%.

Porter Wright Law Firm

Another interesting example of innovation is the partnership between the legal department of United Retirement and the law firm, Porter Wright. Together, they have created a fixed-fee arrangement for lease negotiations based on a risk chart they created together.

As we all grapple with ways to adopt the ever-changing best practices of the industry, be sure to visit the ACC Resource Center www.acc.com on their website. It's a free online resource that accessible to all of us.

Marketing The Law Firm Congratulates the 2012 ACC Value Champions

• GlaxoSmithKline
• The Home Depot
• Lucchini S.p.A.
• Medtronic
• Pfizer Inc.
• RBC Capital Markets and Morgan Lewis
• Rockwell Collins and Seyfarth Shaw
• Sherwin Williams and Gallagher Sharp
• Target and Nilan Johnson Lewis
• Tyco International and Shook Hardy & Bacon
• United Retirement and Porter
• WrightWhirlpool and Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell

A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, Beth Cuzzone is Director of Business Development & Client Service at Goulston & Storrs. She may be reached at 617-574-6525 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Earlier this year, Marketing The Law Firm, sent out a CALL TO ACTION to its readers: Team up with your clients in a new way, and share your success stories of collaboration with ACC and the industry via the ACC Value Champions.

This was the inaugural year for the awards. The goal of the ACC Value Champions is to recognize law departments and law firms that have led the trend in improving the value of legal spending. This year's winners included five law departments and seven law department-law firm collaborations.

Innovation

As we ask 'What's around the corner for law firm marketing?' one look at the 2012 ACC Value Champions and two things come to mind: “value-focused legal management skills” and “innovation.” When reviewing the honorees and their submissions, I was struck by many surprising characteristics: The legal services were not all litigation-related; not all of the law firms were large multi-national law firms; and, not all cost reductions were based on volume or flat discounts ' just to name a few.

David Grumbine

As an example, Whirlpool's senior counsel and director of dispute resolution operations, David Grumbine, has been at the forefront of aligning cost and values for years. In the 1990s, Grumbine offered bonuses for early resolution of litigation cases. A few years ago, he made another bold move. Rather than hire an AmLaw 100 firm to defend the Fortune 500's class actions, he selected a litigation-boutique, regional firm: Wheeler Trigg O O'Donnell, LLP, located in Denver. Whirlpool immediately saved approximately 40% on class-action defense costs.

Cam Findlay

Another honoree, Cam Findlay, General Counsel at Medtronic, and the legal department implemented its Medtronic Preferred Provider Program (MP3), and succeeded in reducing the number of outside firms doing the vast majority of Medtronic's work from several hundred to fewer than 40. Medtronic also put in place numerous alternative fee agreements ' including contingency arrangements, fixed-fee arrangements, and risk-sharing devices ' to reduce volatility, improve predictability, and, most important, align firms' incentives with Medtronic. They even share the risks of litigation. In fiscal year 2011, Medtronic's total spending on outside counsel decreased 31%.

Porter Wright Law Firm

Another interesting example of innovation is the partnership between the legal department of United Retirement and the law firm, Porter Wright. Together, they have created a fixed-fee arrangement for lease negotiations based on a risk chart they created together.

As we all grapple with ways to adopt the ever-changing best practices of the industry, be sure to visit the ACC Resource Center www.acc.com on their website. It's a free online resource that accessible to all of us.

Marketing The Law Firm Congratulates the 2012 ACC Value Champions

• GlaxoSmithKline
• The Home Depot
• Lucchini S.p.A.
• Medtronic
• Pfizer Inc.
• RBC Capital Markets and Morgan Lewis
• Rockwell Collins and Seyfarth Shaw
• Sherwin Williams and Gallagher Sharp
• Target and Nilan Johnson Lewis
• Tyco International and Shook Hardy & Bacon
• United Retirement and Porter
• WrightWhirlpool and Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell

A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, Beth Cuzzone is Director of Business Development & Client Service at Goulston & Storrs. She may be reached at 617-574-6525 or via e-mail at [email protected].