Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Small Law Firms

Getting Beyond The ‘Table Stakes’: What GCs Really Want In Lawyer Relationships

Observations from the GC panel at LMA24. 

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Business people standing in conference room shaking handsJust about every private practice lawyer can deliver sound legal advice, of course. 

Many go further by learning their clients’ full business operations to deliver broad-based guidance. 

But what truly differentiates a lawyer whom a general counsel would look to as a long-term partner?

The question was posed to a panel of top GCs at the Legal Marketing Association’s annual conference in San Diego last week. 

The GC panel is a perennial favorite of the conference, bringing frank insights from the clients themselves on business development topics. 

This year’s panel was held on the main festival-style stage to a room packed with many of the conference’s 1,200 attendees. 

When it comes to outside counsel, “a lot of studies show that, really, the table stakes are not enough, right?” said the moderator, Morgan MacLeod of Cubicle Fugitive Inc., addressing the in-house panelists. 

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“Really, you guys are looking for way more proactive, pragmatic, actionable advice that people can get going on right away,” she added. 

Here are some insights from the discussion. 

Smaller Firms May Offer Unique Value

If you’re a marketer for a small or midsize firm, you may want to highlight your firm’s ability to build deep relationships in your branding. 

And you shouldn’t rule out the largest companies in your outreach. 

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Google, for example, doesn’t always opt for the biggest of Biglaw in its hiring, noted Judy Shu, Senior Counsel at the company.

Shu works with midsize firms and even solo practitioners, she said, and her department benefits from direct interactions with a smaller group of people and the knowledge retention it fosters. 

These firms can often offer lower rates than the largest firms. They also provide certainty in what a client will pay for a particular matter and what the client is receiving in return, she said. 

Shu particularly sends these firms deal negotiation work — maybe a bulk amount of contracts that need to be finalized. 

“A lot of times, we’ll reach out to our smaller firms and say, ‘Hey, can you handle this for us?’” she said. “And we kind of can forget about it, because we know that we can put them in touch with our internal business clients.”

“They can build that same kind of trust and relationship.” 

GCs Aren’t Primarily Concerned With Seniority

In their quest for responsiveness and value, in-house counsel often find success by looking beyond the most senior partners and involving their junior colleagues in the relationship. 

Justin Witzmann of NuVasive, for example, noted that, among lawyers with deep knowledge of a particular practice area, more junior attorneys often show an increased willingness to dive into the client’s business operations.

“We’ve built out, in products and employment, especially, some national counsel that are really like an extension of our legal department,” he said. 

For law firms and their corporate clients, this is a two-way street — and a place where business development professionals can be proactive.  

Savvy law firms and in-house counsel alike should look to connect junior professionals across their respective organizations to build more productive relationships.

“I don’t like being the bottleneck,” said Terezka Zabka, the San Diego Padres’ General Counsel. “So I try to connect as many people as possible.” 

For law firms, it’s also all about staying top-of-mind with in-house counsel. 

Increasing engagement with a law department’s more junior professionals — through firm-sponsored events and other efforts — can be an effective way to do this. 

“Invite our law clerks out to lunch or take our law clerks to a baseball game or dinner,” said Thomas Santram, General Counsel at Cineplex Entertainment. “Because they actually are the ones doing the work. And I will listen to them if they like someone, if they want to work with someone, and I try to let them work with the people they want to work with.” 

Mailing lists are also a good way to stay top of mind, but firms shouldn’t overdo it. 

“When emails come in,” Santram said, “if you keep getting too many emails from the same person, you skim them carefully.”

GCs Want Advice Beyond Legal Issues

Of course, lawyer communications that help a GC’s business will always be well received. 

For Zabka, the Padres GC, broad communication from outside counsel is a major value-add when providing legal guidance.

In discussions with her lawyers, Zabka is not looking just for an answer to her legal questions. She also wants additional information her lawyers may have read or discussed over coffee at their firm. 

Zabka welcomes regular communication of high-level articles and commentary related to her organization or practice — even sports items that could possibly be viewed through a legal lens.

“It’s as simple as sending a tweet, sending a text, something like that,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a long sort of article or anything, but just letting me know that I’m top of mind is always nice.”

Another way a private practice lawyer can deepen a relationship, ironically enough, is to refer a colleague from another firm. 

Santram remembers calling an outside counsel to handle a matter, and being told: “Tom, we could do it, but we’re not the right people for you to do it. You should go across the street.”

The situation convinced Santram that the referring lawyer wasn’t just looking to bill hours, but that he genuinely sought a deep relationship. 

“He’s building a relationship, and he’s really a trusted adviser now,” Santram said. “I respected that. I really appreciated that.” 

Jeremy Barker is the director of content marketing for Breaking Media. Feel free to email him with questions or comments and to connect on LinkedIn. 

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