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CCCA_V3No3_Gaming-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 9/16/09 9:55 PM Page 30 Feature Though no one may have set out to create a system they can manipulate, today’s economic pressures certainly create unprecedented incentives to game the system. negotiate transaction or engagement rates and fees on behalf of and law schools — may the client before work commenced.This prototypic approach to behave in a way consis- alternative fee negotiations was written up favorably in The Wall tent with rational self- Street Journal, which added that it was probably a sad sign of the interest, the overall effect times that an additional tier of negotiators was needed to produce may turn out to be something mutually agreeable engagements. The buyers’ agent idea was none of them expected or wanted,something greeted warmly by a few innovative corporate clients, but overall neither rational nor mutually beneficial. its expected beneficiaries shied away. “It was a sound idea before Unquestionably,it is hard to plan and control change in the face its time,” one of its founders says today. of constantly changing conditions.Still,top corporate counsel will My point is not to suggest that some parties to the client-coun- not produce effective, collaborative change simply by putting sel relationship are more blameworthy,lazy or change-averse than the monkey on law firms’ backs by demanding that they change, others. Clearly, we are going through a period where, in law that they innovate, that they unilaterally initiate new and different school parlance,“reasonable people can disagree,”even as all play- fee arrangements. ers do what they’ve always done:operate in what they perceive as In that regard,the babel I hear at conferences is noisy,but it may their rational self-interest. Though no one may have set out to ultimately prove constructive. Rather than squaring off in a finger- create a system they can manipulate, today’s economic pressures pointing contest, the legal profession’s shell-shocked stakeholders certainly create unprecedented incentives to game the system. should spend their time and energy comparing notes,sharing hor- The babel of conflicting perspectives I hear mirror the conclu- ror stories and war stories,and,ultimately,creating a new set of best sion of Seventh Circuit Appeals Judge Richard Posner in his recent practices that becomes the new conventional wisdom. book, A Failure of Capitalism. Posner believes that the current chaos in the business of law today is not the result of devious or irrational Pamela Woldow is a principal with AltmanWeil Inc. She advises forces. He suggests, however, that even though all stakeholders — general counsel and chief legal officers on law department operations clients, partners, associates, consultants, headhunters, law students and litigation management. autant adresser le problème fondamental. de forces irrationnelles. Il suggère plutôt comportement des firmes externes. En fait, il est sans doute plus facile pour que même si tous les intervenants — Dans cette perspective, le concert de les intervenants des deux côtés de continuer clients, associés, consultants et même étu- rumeurs et d’opinions qui a cours dans à jouer le jeu selon les mêmes vieilles règles. diants en droit — agissent de manière les conférences légales pourrait s’avérer Je ne tente pas ici de dire que certains cohérente avec leurs intérêts personnels et constructif. Plutôt que de s´affronter et sont plus à blâmer que d’autres, plus rationnels, le résultat pourrait en être un de se pointer du doigt, les professionnels réfractaires au changement ou simplement que personne ne souhaite ou n’a anticipé du droit pourraient décider de passer plus paresseux. Néanmoins, la panoplie de — un résultat ni rationnel et ni mutuelle- leur temps et leur énergie à comparer perspectives et d’opinions qui circulent ment bénéfique. leurs notes et leurs expériences et, ultime- actuellement reflètent la conclusion du Il est évidemment difficile de planifier ment, créer un nouvel ensemble de pra- juge Richard Posner du Seventh Circuit et contrôler le changement dans de telles tiques, qui pourrait bien devenir la nou- Appeals dans son dernier livre, A Failure of conditions, en perpétuelle évolution. velle norme. Capitalism (L’échec du capitalisme). Le Néanmoins, les conseillers juridiques qui magistrat soutien que le chaos actuel dans peuvent exercer une influence ne change- PamelaWoldow est consultante à la société le commerce du droit n’est pas le résultat ront rien s’ils se limitent à blâmer le américaine de conseil juridique AltmanWeil. 30 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2009