Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | T E C H S O L U T I O N S 41 mention OCGs in 2015. At that time, corporate legal officers focused narrowly on reducing billing rates (68%) and negotiating alternative fee arrangements (60%). 2 The tide has changed so completely in the past five years that — in addition to the annual Altman Weil survey — two 2019 studies measured the effectiveness of OCGs from the law firm perspective. The District of Columbia Bar Rules Review Committee performed the first survey in May. Its goal was to assess whether "changes should be recommended to regulate and clarify the extent to which clients may contractually require lawyers to engage or refrain from engaging in certain conduct or practices." 3 On December 3, the Association of Legal Administrators and Bellefield Systems 4 published the second survey, which concentrated on the "impact of Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCGs), e-billing, and billing compliance on law firms." Manage an administrative tsunami The need to manage client commitments — including those presented in requests for proposals, OCGs, engagement letters, and waivers — has been an administrative tsunami. To draw on the African proverb — it takes a village to raise a child — law firms have discovered it takes a village of administrators to review potential client commitments substantively and negotiate final terms. The evolving leading practice involves subject matter experts from various disciplines, including: • Office of General Counsel and the risk organization to review the definition of the proposed client, advance waivers, positioning of business affiliate and competitor conflicts, restrictions on services, constraints on legal positions, and broader underlying risk issues such as indemnifications, insurance, and representations and warranties. • Accounting and Finance to review requirements for time entry, expenses, and billing as well as proposed pricing, discounts, and special fee arrangements. • Records and Information Management to review requirements for protection and disposition of client records and information. • Information Technolo Services to review requirements for information security and data privacy. • Human Resources to review requirements for team composition, diversity, and obligations to report on such. • Practice Management to review requirements for the resource management and reporting. "It takes a village of administrators to review potential client commitments substantively and negotiate final terms."

• Cover