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7. external Counsel She adds that general counsel need to clampdown on rates
they are paying, noting she is “not prepared to accept the tread-
It’s really in the area of external counsel fees where lawyers say mill” of yearly increases to the hourly rates.
they fnd the biggest impact in cost savings. Miller agrees that bringing more work in-house is doable. He
The frst place to start is rates. “Are you getting market rates says there are an “amazing array” of software tools, checklists and
from your law frm or are you overpaying?” Miller asks. “They precedents that in-house lawyers can now subscribe to in order
aren’t easy conversations,” he adds, but he would tell his exter- to expand their existing knowledge and take on new matters.
nal frms “we don’t have any choice, the pressure is on us.”
He says the reality is that you may end up having to move
work, which is “painful” and an “administrative headache,” but While budget cutting is not pleasant and
in the long run benefts the bottom line. never easy, it can revitalize a legal depart-
King adds that “good external counsel are very sensitive to ment and bring a team together. the key is
market conditions” and will work with companies. In some to be proactive, rather than reactive, says
cases she has negotiated fee reductions in exchange for more king. The biggest mistake she sees is that
work. “There’s that strengthening of the relationship,” she says general counsel “make the tough deci-
of the horse-trading. sions too late and they are not prepared.”
Suncor’s Odegaard adds there are savings to be had by bringing
more work in-house. “We are handing out less work to external
counsel. We found our internal lawyers can do it better and faster. “Employees are well aware of market downturns,” she says.
They understand our corporate philosophy and risk profle. We If you fail to act quickly, there is a “natural destabilization
have repatriated a lot of work and completed it with less money.” and fear in the organization that can fester.” When it comes
Also, don’t be afraid to tap internal experts. “We realized tough decisions, she says, “the longer you delay them, the
we had an enormous amount of internal expertise in our legal higher the risk.” ❚
functions,” Odegaard says. The trick is capturing that and shar-
ing the information and knowledge. Her department now holds
more in-house training sessions and also taps its external legal Jim Middlemiss is a writer based in London, Ontario.
partners to bring people up to speed in specifc areas or devel-
opments of the law.

Work

Cost-Cutting Controls thatxxxxxxxxx

there is no silver bullet when it comes to managing budget cuts, but in-house lawyers can learn from their colleagues what
works and what doesn’t when it comes to implementing cost controls and fnding effciencies. Here is some food for thought
from the 2016 altman weil inc. chief legal offcer survey.
Based on a 10-point scale, the top cost control tactics In terms of effciency measures, the methods that brought
that CLOs say produced the Most value were: Most value, also based on a 10-point scale, were:
■ shifting work to in-house staff from external frms ■ greater use of paralegal and other para-professionals
(86% scored it 5 or better); (88% scored it 5 or more);
■ shifting in-house work to lower cost company locations ■ internal restructuring and reorganizing of resources
(84% scored it 5 or better); and (82% scored it 5 or more); and
■ reducing the total amount of work to outside counsel ■ outsourcing to non-lawyer vendors (81% scored it 5
(83% scored it 5 or better). or more).

The least effective were: The least effective were:
■ reducing non-lawyer, in-house staff (48% scored it ■ collection and analysis of management metrics (32%
5 or less); scored it 5 or less);
■ reducing in-house lawyer staff (38% scored it 5 ■ project management training (32% score it 5 or less);
or less); and and
■ instituting a law frm convergence program ■ knowledge management efforts (29% scored it 5
(28% scored it 5 or less). or less).

20 CCCA MAgAzINE | FALL 2017 AutOMNE