“an insiders guide to getting the best value from your legal advisers …..” how to manage your...

“an insiders guide to getting the best value from your legal advisers …..”

How to manage your legal advisers

Roger Bull

Marcus Harling

Partners – Burges Salmon LLP

How to manage your legal advisers

It will not always look like this

How to manage your legal advisers

Introduction

Choosing the right adviser

Getting value

Managing your adviser

Added value

Instructing your advisers

Getting the team dynamic right

Client Relationship Management

Budgets & Pricing

Using KPIs

Being a good client

How to manage your legal advisers

1 Choosing the right adviser

Panels/ Tenders

Frameworks

Managing call offs

EU Procurement

Match the selection to the requirement

How to manage your legal advisers

1 Choosing the right adviser

About understanding your needs and matching them with the right answers.

How to manage your legal advisers

1 Choosing the right adviser

Institutional strategy

Business plans

Avoiding mismatch of expectations

How to manage your legal advisers

2 Getting value

Complex or important projects – relationship/ team driven

Commoditised work – value driven

How to manage your legal advisers

2 Getting value

Time/ Quality/ Price equation

How to avoid increased costs

How to manage your legal advisers

3 Added value

Loyalty – flows two ways …

Encourage adding value – not just one way

Encourage team working/building

Help the adviser understand the client’s internal operating environment

Establish effective communications protocols

Less stick – more carrot?

Control and optimise relationship

Help us to help you

How to manage your legal advisers

4 Managing your advisers

Advice need to be:

- Practical

- Easily understood

- Relevant

- Commercially aware

- Cost effective

- Tailored to the client audience

How to manage your legal advisers

4 Managing your advisers

Become an intelligent customer, manage proactively and challenge your advisers

Manage efficiently

Be open to challenge

Use lawyers skills in wider project team

How to instruct your advisers

How to manage your legal advisers

5 Instructing your advisers

How to manage your legal advisers

5 Instructing your advisers

Precise instructions lead to precise advice

Do not expect certainty when there is none

How to manage your legal advisers

6 The right team dynamic

Personalities

Seniority

Cost

Knowledge

Skills

Location

Flexibility

How to manage your legal advisers

7 Client relationship management (“CRM”) What is CRM?

Influence the design

Meetings

Feedback and reporting

KPI’s

In the pipeline

Billing

Value added services

How to manage your legal advisers

8 Legal Budgeting

Preparation of annual budgets

Financial Reporting

No surprises

Risk sharing

Going shopping

- Cost

- Item

- Delivery

How to manage your legal advisers

8 Legal Services – Pricing

Hourly rate

Fixed fee

Capped fee

Retainer

Contingent

Success/abortion fees

How to manage your legal advisers

9 Key Performance Indicators

Success and failure

Realistic

Record/monitor

Review meetings

Meaningful/meaningless

Consequences

Be gentle

Talk to each other

How to manage your legal advisers

9 Key Performance Indicators

Examples

- Acknowledgment

- Understanding

- Fee estimate

- Deadlines/response times

- Updates

- Quality

- Team

How to manage your legal advisers

10 Being a good client

Relationships

Deadlines

CRM input

Feedback

Thanks

Payment!

How to manage your legal advisers

10 Being a good client

Loyalty – two way

Encourage added value

Help us to help you

Less stick – more carrot

Mutual benefits all round

How to manage your legal advisersThis presentation gives general information only and is not intended to be an exhaustive statement of the law. Although we have taken care over the information, you should not rely on it as legal advice. We do not accept any liability to anyone who does rely on its content.