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CCCA_V2No4_RedefineValue-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 11/24/08 2:57 PM Page 38 Feature For generations, after all, GCs have relied on top-end law firms desire. Over the years, however, Reynolds has been surprised by with the comfort of knowing that,even if they don’t get the results how many “write ups” the firm has received. Requested “write they expected, they won’t be blamed for not seeking out what’s downs,” he says, have been few and far between. perceived to be top-notch legal counsel. With 28 lawyers, Summit has no associates: just equity part- But with legal budgets coming under increased scrutiny and ners. It shares the details of its financial progress with its entire cost-cutting demands from corporate directors, GCs are begin- staff,whose compensation is highly bonus-based.And in an egal- ning to display a greater willingness to experiment and take risks itarian measure designed to foster unity and teamwork, every- in return for a better deal. body — from the top-billing lawyer to the document clerk — Cisco Systems Inc. General Counsel Mark Chandler, whose has identical 10-by-13-foot offices in space that is “functional” California-based technology company spends roughly $80 million but hardly showy. annually on outside counsel, serves on VLP’s advisory board and Reynolds well remembers those who doubted whether applauds its approach to making its services more cost-effective. Summit would survive.“Just the fact that we can talk about doing Chandler says he can’t remember the last time he actually went this for 11½ years is significant in itself,” he says. to one of his outside law firms’ offices, so luxury quarters are hardly something he looks for when farming out legal work. On Letting lawyers be lawyers the contrary,“every time I see [an outside counsel’s] marble con- Law firms pushing innovation are fueled by surveys showing a ference table, I wonder what’s wrong with the metal one in my widening disconnect between clients and outside counsel over the office,” he quips. Although Cisco Systems has yet to retain VLP, perceived value of the service the clients are paying for. In-house “I’m certainly open to it,” says Chandler. legal departments, of course, are still willing to pay — and pay big Mark Reynolds, executive director of Seattle-based Summit Law Group, says he’s also convinced there’s a growing market for firms like his, that have thrown convention to the “Canadian lawyers have a very good wind in the name of providing clients with more cost-effective service. sense of what their clients want.” Established in 1997, Summit is a forebearer Rosemary Martin, to firms such as Valorem, which borrowed its Chief Executive, Practical Law Company, London practice of offering a “value adjustment” line on its proposed bills. Like Valorem, Summit — when their companies’ futures are at stake. But for less vital, guarantees that it will more routine assignments that can be completed more efficiently honour — without through standardization and better use of technology, cost savings question — whatever can be achieved by not going to a top law firm — or sometimes, discount its clients not even a law firm at all. That quest for cost efficiency has opened the door for legal service providers such as Novus Law LLC. Its co-founder, Ray Bayley,foresees the legal industry transitioning to a business model closer to what’s happened in the medical profession.Doctors over- see patient care, but the vast amount of that care is actually per- formed by supporting teams of nurses and medical assistants. The former managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’high- ly successful business process outsourcing division, Bayley doesn’t like to describe what Chicago-based Novus Law does as outsourc- ing. Any legal work not kept in-house,he points out,is outsourced. Novus Law’s propriety technology enables its lawyers to parse and sift through documents and complete their preparation and review in a fraction of the time it would take most BigLaw 38 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association WINTER 2008