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Driving Better Alignment in Legal Services
Insights from Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Cisco Systems, Inc.
“The most important step any law department leader can take in driving better alignment between in-house legal departments and outside counsel is to understand what drives law firms as successful business enterprises. Unless we find ways to be respectful of law firms’ business while also achieving our alignment goals, there will always be tension within this relationship. The approach shouldn’t be a ‘zero-sum’ discussion where we simply ask them to charge less tomorrow than they do today. Instead, a more creative approach is to drive alignment by helping to build and identify efficiencies,” explains Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for Cisco Systems, Inc. To continue reading, click here.
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ACC Pushes Back Against Erosion Of Attorney Client Privilege
ACC has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (“the Chamber”) in filing an amicus with the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in connection with United States v. Textron Inc, a case involving an IRS summons for documents prepared by Textron’s in-house legal counsel for tax matters. The documents include a legal analysis to help determine reserves for contingent taxes and liabilities. The analysis was shared with the company’s outside auditors as part of the auditors’ review of financial statement reserves. The District Court’s decision held that disclosure to the auditors waived the attorney-client privilege but not the work product protection. The government is appealing this decision and ACC and the Chamber filed an amicus to help support and fight for protection of both the attorney-client privilege and work product protections in the audit context. For more on this story, visit the ACC Public Policy page.
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Invest in Your Legal Department at ACC’s Corporate Counsel University®
Providing legal services inside an organization, becoming deeply engaged in meeting business needs, and thriving in a new corporate culture poses a whole different set of challenges. If you are interested in focused training for new members of your legal department, send them to the next Corporate Counsel University® (May 21-23, The Palace Hotel, San Francisco, CA). Open only to in-house counsel, Corporate Counsel University will provide your staff with the tools to excel in this new environment. Topics to be addressed at the upcoming program include in-depth ethics, finance and financial immersion sessions - NEW, negotiation skills, complexities of employment, understanding Intellectual Property and more.
Based on the popularity and interest from previous programs, Corporate Counsel University® is once again offering a program for in-house paralegals. For additional information and to register, please visit ccu.acc.com for more program details and to register. Registration is $720 for in-house counsel and $675 for paralegals. Take advantage of the group rate when you send two or more staff from your department.
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GCs Discuss Reconnecting Value to the Cost of Legal Services
ACC believes that law firm business models increasingly are not aligned with the needs of their corporate clients, who want high quality, predictable, cost-effective legal services. This topic, which is of high importance to many CLOs around the country, was the focus of a CLO ThinkTank, held this past February. Hosted by Mike Dillon, Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for Sun Microsystems, this CLO Think Tank addressed ACC’s initiative to help corporate counsel assess the strengths and weaknesses of their law firm vendors, and CLO participants from Cisco Systems, Inc., Coors Brewing Company, Del Monte Foods Company, Edison International, Exelon Corporation, Wal-Mart and YUM! Brands, Inc. discussed how law departments and law firms could seek to reconnect the cost of legal services with the value provided.
Read the CLO ThinkTank Executive Report from February’s “Value/Cost of Legal Services” discussion. The Participants’ Briefing Book is also available, which includes an overview, outline and links to resources of interest.
ACC’s CLO ThinkTanks are executive roundtable discussions designed to bring together CLOs to discuss top-of-mind issues. There have been 16 CLO Think Tanks to date in the U.S. and Canada, and the Executive Reports and Briefing Books from previously held discussions are available online at ACC’s CLO ThinkTank page.
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