Wednesday, January 9, 2013

In-House Counsel Looking to Switch to Small Firms

The legal publications are full of commentary about the problems with BigLaw's business model. I won't repeat those criticisms here, after all, some of my friends are at BigLaw. The large law firms have their place, and there are certain projects and clients that a small firm simply cannot handle.

However, with increasing frequency, and apparently vastly rising hourly rates, in-house counsel are turning to small boutique firms for their litigation and transactional needs. Above the Law has an interview with an "in-house insider" discussing the issue, which repeats in large part what those of us in the boutique world, and our clients, have known for years.
Looking to alternative vendors (small firms or Axiom) that can deliver equivalent service for less cost for labor-intensive tasks is part of the answer, keeping more work inside and alternative fee arrangements (more appropriate for litigation than transactional matters but I have had some success on the transactional side too) is another part....
Take a look at Buying In: An Interview with an In-House Insider at Above the Law.