Insights from the latest buying legal services survey

Written by Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein – Executive Director of the Buying Legal Council – today’s post is based on key insights from the latest buying legal services survey [1]. In the spirit of Jeff Carr’s recent letter reproduced on Dialogue to outside counsel on delivering value with integrity, Silvia uses two emails, one from a CFO to the Legal Department, and the other from the CMO of a major law firm on the panel to the Head of the Corporate Practice.

Update: NewLaw firm combo intends to halve corporates’ legal spend

For the first time, three luminaries who appear on Dialogue are featured in the same story by legendary Bob Ambrogi on the equally renowned Above the Law website.

Bob reports on the formation of ElevateNext, an innovative partnership designed to comply with the US’s ethical rules and enable those who are not lawyers to invest in the provision of technology-based and process-related services bundled with legal services to corporate law departments.

A framework for the evolution of corporate law departments

In A framework for the evolution of corporate law departments, Steven Walker contributes his second post to Dialogue.

General Counsel and law departments are in the business of providing legal services, and they are under relentless pressure to respond to the challenges of delivering the highest quality services as quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. These imperatives are now more compelling than ever. Readers may like to refer to my recently posted remarks related to that point.

If this were not enough, General Counsel and their staff are expected to walk and chew gum. Here’s why I say this and what I believe should be done to address the challenge and the opportunity.

Law departments and the foundation of law firm marketing bullshit

The law department is only one part of the company

The law department is only one part of the company is Mike O’Horo’s first post on Dialogue for 2018. In it Mike addresses a crucial question: “In corporations, who is the client?” and shares his views on how to manage both GCs and c-suite executives. Our research shows there are a few key differences in the criteria lawyers use when appointing a BigLaw firm compared with those of their line manager colleagues, more on this in the Comments on Mike’s post. 

What’s a ‘Law Company’ and why are legal consumers embracing it

In What’s a ‘Law Company’ and why are legal consumers embracing it Mark Cohen tackles the rise of the NewLaw business model head-on. It’s no longer a question of whether NewLaw providers will succeed and take market share from BigLaw firms. Rather, the relevant questions are How fast? and By how much?