The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/96072
Ask The Expert: Law Firm 101 and How It Applies to You When people understand the basic business model of a professional services firm, they can better understand why certain things are important. for example. The same processes essentially exist in corporate law departments as in law firms, but from the opposite perspective. Why does the client care whether a law firm has a conflict? Why does he care about the engagement process? What's the client's perspective on the engagement process? And then there's that issue of vocabulary. The vocabulary on the application side is going to be about the same in a corporate law department as in a law firm, but there will be some unique things in a corporate law department (e.g. some of the matter management concepts are a little different managing outside counsel). There'll be some Law Firm 101 content that's shared between departments and law firms, and there'll probably be some tweaks, too. Marcy: Private law firms and in-house corporate law departments work in a symbiotic relationship. Self-critical analysis, whereby a law firm analyzes its performance in delivering legal services, is in no small part the result of pressures being placed on them by corporate law departments over the past five years. Firms are integral in working with clients to reduce clients' legal spending and additionally are working to better align firm practices with the business operations of clients. ILTA's launch of the Law Firm 101 initiative seems well-timed as it provides a potential platform for law firms and in-house corporate law departments to assess successful changes in the delivery of legal services. _________________________________________________________ Meredith: The content can cross over. It's wonderful for a corporate law department to know that their law firm is doing absolutely everything they can to be effective and efficient with the money that client is putting forth. Knowing that their law firm is utilizing these types of resources is a great commodity to the firm using them. In addition, some of these key topics will be very helpful for people entering the corporate law department, especially if they've never worked in private practice. It would be a great idea for them to take a quick look at some of the ways attorneys are actually practicing. Can you envision the changes that might occur to the curriculum in the future and any additional training that might be spawned? Meredith: I can absolutely see this expanding. Initially, we're starting with big-picture umbrella topics: How does the firm work? How do I practice? How do I support my clients? And we'll build in a general curriculum underneath each one of those. But they Peer to Peer 89