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Why Should Outside Counsel Care?

By Allan Colman
January 31, 2016

So what else is new? According to the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) 2015 Inside/Outside Counsel Relationship Survey, ” ' corporate legal departments and their outside counsel have inconsistent views of key relationship factors ' .” According to an article in the Dec/Jan 2016 Today's General Counsel, the survey ” ' demonstrates that in-house counsel are looking to outside counsel to become more like business partners in providing legal services.”

This should be of absolutely no surprise to anyone familiar with annual surveys of in-house counsel. In one form or another, the number one or number two response by GCs to the question of the most important characteristics needed from their outside counsel, is understanding our business and becoming our business partner.

Is the Message Being Lost?

“Good communications between inside and outside counsel is essential to understanding the expectations of in-house counsel at the onset” stated attorneys quoted in the article. But in our firm's U.S. and Canada survey regarding Client Retention, 36% of the outside attorneys indicated that they lost clients based on faulty or nonexistent communications on their part ' yes 36%! So why are they not getting the message?

I am convinced that the answer lies in the fact that the outside attorneys do not ask themselves or their clients and prospects the following questions to identify the business relationship needs and communications required to maintain healthy client relationships:

  • Do you know what is happening in their marketplace?
  • Can you identify and understand the pressures placed on in-house counsel?
  • What risks are inside counsel taking by retaining you and your firm?
  • Can you detail information about their competitors and products?
  • If this is a new engagement, what are your expectations if you win their business?
  • Will you be able to help them communicate internally your work, issues and opportunities?
  • For an existing client, how do you rank yourself on activities considered important by the client, and how would they rank you?
  • When seeking additional engagements from a client, what internal pressures might impact their receptivity to retaining you?

In summary, do you understand their needs? What are the pressures going on inside that company? Is the board of directors looking over the GC's shoulders? Have their competitors introduced a “market-busting” new product or service? Knowing all of these answers will help you get and keep clients and new clients.

Conclusion

An attorney once said to me, “I get good results; what else is needed?” The answer is included in the above questions and is why outside counsel need to care.

Dr. Allan Colman, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors and CEO of the Closers Group, specializes in Accelerating Rapid Revenue Growth for Law Firms. He may be reached at www.closersgroup.com.

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