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Don’t bill for thank-you notes

By: DOLAN MEDIA NEWSWIRES//September 20, 2012//

Don’t bill for thank-you notes

By: DOLAN MEDIA NEWSWIRES//September 20, 2012//

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General counsel weigh in on successful firm business relationships

By Deborah Elkins
Dolan Media Newswires

Relationships matter, goes the familiar marketing maxim. And communications are the key to a successful collaboration between a lawyer and the in-house legal counsel who hires the lawyer.

Notice, it’s the lawyer who is hired, not necessarily the law firm.

“When I need to reach out to someone, I think of a lawyer, as opposed to firms,” said John M. Oakey III, general counsel of Essex Bank in Glen Allen, Va.

In-house counsel give equal weight to who you know and what you know, as the outside lawyer. They want to know what kind of reputation you have, where you practice and if you’ve handled the kind of specific matter in question, whether it’s a business merger, regulatory issue or thorny employment dispute.

“Lots of lawyers I work with, I know personally, and have worked with over the years, for instance, though bar activities,” Oakey said. “They know me, they know I’m flexible, they know my nuances. I want to pay attention in a case, so if something is going to blow up on us,” it won’t be a surprise.

If he’s dealing with a complex regulatory or corporate governance issue, Oakey said, he looks for someone with a long track record in that practice area, and with solid credibility in the forum in question.

But take heart, junior partners. For something a little less complicated, say, an “oddball customer issue,” Oakey said, he tends “to go with people out there for 10 to 15 years. I feel like I get really good value. They’ve been around the block, but I’m not getting blown out of the water with the high billable hours of a senior partner.”

For newer lawyers looking to make an impression, getting involved in legal organizations or pro bono work provides a way to impress inside counsel, said Manik Rath, general counsel of LMI in McLean, Va., who is active with the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Given his own law firm experience and active role in the NVTC, Rath said “it’s rare that we’re working with strangers.”

Don’t be afraid to strut your stuff in order to stake a claim. If you are a new associate who clerked for a judge where a company has to go to court, make sure that credential is out front.

For litigation, “you want someone knowledgeable about the venue, about the judge,” said Jeffrey Stredler, senior litigation counsel of Amerigroup Corporation in Virginia Beach.

He recently had a case in Florida and hired one of the judge’s former law clerks.

“She was wonderful,” he said. “She knew just how that court was run. If you have an asset like that,” you should promote it.

References can be helpful, but the outside lawyer may need to do due diligence on those references first. Stredler said he recently checked references on an outside lawyer, and two out of the three references said they would not hire the lawyer again.

Like many in-house lawyers, Rath has billing guidelines for outside counsel, but instead of the 30-page guidelines he used to see in private practice, he has pared his guidelines to a half-page with eight specific requirements.

And when it comes to billing, be careful. Stredler says when he sees a bill with the first item “review” misspelled, he knows the lawyer did not review the bill before sending it on. A lawyer’s sloppy billing of the same item during two separate billing cycles would have cost him $10,000 had he not scrutinized a recent bill, he said.

Another outside lawyer sent Stredler a lovely thank-you note at the conclusion of a matter, expressing the hope they would work together again. The $40 follow-up bill for the letter made that less likely.

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