In-house Counsel Value Challenge

The disconnect between in-house counsel and their outside lawyers continues to increase. Law firms regularly rate themselves much more highly than clients do on the quality of their relationship, service levels and improvements and efforts to reduce legal costs. With ever-increasing pressure inside their companies to reduce their legal budgets, clients are forcing firms to provide fee discounts and to consider how they can staff matters more efficiently.

In response to growing dissatisfaction with the status quo, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) recently launched the ACC Value Challenge. This initiative encourages in-house counsel and their clients to consider and redesign their business models. ACC believes that “many traditional law firm business models… are not aligned with what clients want and need: value-driven, high-quality legal services that deliver solutions for a reasonable cost and develop lawyers as counselors (not just content-providers), advocates (not just process-doers) and professional partners.” ¹

RainMaking Oasis helps you continue to grow strong partnerships with clients and stay profitable during these challenging times. Services we offer to help you include:

      • Inside-Outside Counsel Forums with your clients (MORE>)

      • Value Workshop for management teams and partners (MORE>)

      • Value Readiness Audit

      • Value Pyramid of Legal Services (MORE>)

      • “Voice of the Client” and loyalty strategies including client interviews (MORE>)

      • Client Service Standards and Protocols

      • Customer service training for lawyers and staff (MORE>)

      • Consulting on:

            • Cultural and change management
            • Continuous improvement plans and methodologies
            • Pricing and budgeting
            • Recruiting and retention programs
            • Training, promotion and compensation

1 Reprinted with permission from the Association of Corporate Counsel

Inside-Outside Counsel Value Forums

The purpose of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Value Challenge is, among other things, to “promote dialog among corporate counsel, law firms, law schools, and others who are interested in driving alignment and focus on value and its relationship to cost.” Although ACC is recommending and making available many tools and resources, your clients may not yet be familiar with these resources, may not have had the time to review them all, and may have additional or alternative approaches to suggest. It is early enough in the process to engage in some collaborative problem-solving.

RainMaking Oasis is helping law firms host their own forums for outside counsel to promote this dialogue. Through a well-organized program that includes a carefully facilitated discussion about the core components of the Value Challenge, you can get ahead of the curve in nurturing closer, more collaborative partnerships with your clients. These small, facilitated forums will enable you to address the issues of most importance to outside counsel and help you develop better approaches and a more productive dialogue about how you better meet their needs.

Value Workshop for Law Firms
The purpose of the ACC Value Challenge is, among other things, to
      • Create methodologies, metrics and tools that in-house counsel and firms can
        share to drive change toward the management of value-based legal services;

      • Encourage law firms to focus on retention of talent and development of
        skills valued by clients; and

      • Develop lawyers as counselors, advocates and professional partners with a         greater focus on solving client problems.

RainMaking Oasis has developed a workshop to introduce law firms to the core components of the Value Challenge and to help them consider ways to begin an internal dialogue about how they might addresses the challenge. Each workshop is customized to the firm’s needs and can be conducted for groups of law firm leaders and management teams as well as for all attorneys.  

Value Pyramid of Legal Services