Delivering value with integrity: Letter to outside counsel

Delivering value with integrity is Jeff Carr’s recent letter to outside law firms in his capacity as GC of Univar. The message is clear and needs no introductory explanation from me. Can you hear hands clapping, Jeff?

Dear Univar Outside Counsel:

On behalf of everyone at Univar, thank you for the service you have provided us over the years. We are grateful for the support and the meaningful way you have helped the company get to where it is today—a newly publicly-traded enterprise on the precipice of unprecedented growth and performance.

You’ve probably started to notice some changes when it comes to how we approach the delivery and management of legal services, and this includes how we work with outside firms.

At first, some of these changes might feel cumbersome – new processes often feel that way. However, we hope that you will agree that the exciting opportunities these changes create more than outweigh the extra effort required to adapt.

Fundamentally, we believe that the relationship between Univar and its outside counsel should reflect core principles of delivering value with integrity. We define “delivered value” as (1) effectiveness, (2) efficiency, and (3) experience (of the customer). We call this “E³.” We wish to meaningfully reward firms for exceeding our expectations in these areas. By the same token, the compensation paid for performance that does not meet our expectations should be and will be reduced. To accomplish this, we must clearly communicate our expectations on service, performance, and outcomes, and provide you meaningful feedback. By doing so, we create a stronger bond between our businesses. Perhaps even more important, that feedback must be bilateral as that’s the only way we’ll actually achieve the continuous improvement we embrace as a foundational principle.

With this perspective in mind, we have established a set of procedures that we will ask all of our outside counsel to follow. A copy of these procedures is in the link below. In addition, we are also providing a copy of our “Alliance Covenant”, which is the document we will use to engage firms. For more information on the Covenant, please refer to the Procedures document.

Delivering value with integrity: A new approach

As part of this new approach, we will be reviewing our relationships with all our outside counsel with a view towards consolidating work with fewer firms, implementing mutually beneficial value and performance billing procedures, leveraging capabilities, and streamlining matter management and reporting requirements. The firms who are interested, and who are selected, will be members of our Alliance program.

We wanted to give you some advance notice of this initiative so you can be prepared and can consider whether you and your firm wish to be considered for inclusion in our Alliance. We hope that you will want to join us as we innovate and create new, mutually-beneficial ways of working together. However, if you decide that your firm is not well-suited to this kind of arrangement, we understand and will work with you to develop a transition plan. Either way, please let us know.

For those who are interested in participating in the Alliance program, on April 26, 2018 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. CDT we will be hosting a webinar during which we will discuss these procedures in greater detail and answer any questions you may have. Please save the date; information on how to participate will be forthcoming.

Thank you again for your support.

Jeffrey W Carr