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I
n May 2015, Intapp Risk Consulting was
assessing an international law firm's
new-business inception program. When
consultants asked a billing partner
representing a U.S. bank how he handled
his client's outside counsel guidelines (OCGs),
he said, "I signed them and threw them into my
bottom desk drawer." Seeing the consulting team's
incredulous looks, he continued, "I guess that's not
the right answer."
A lot has changed since 2015 — when Intapp
Risk Consulting was asking billing partners and
responsible partners whether they received OCGs
from their clients — to present day, when law firms
have established administrative teams that review
these broad and complex agreements. Altman Weil's
2019 Chief Legal Officer Survey reports that 81%
of surveyed corporate legal departments "provide
guidelines for billing, expenses, matter staffing
and matter management."
1
Matter management
comprises compliance with business policies and
procedures, which includes ethical and business
conflicts; data security and privacy; as well as
records and information management. To put
this in perspective, the same survey did not even
Client Commitments
A C E N T I P E D E T H A T M U S T L E A R N T O
W A L K I N C O N C E R T
by Meg Block
