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Robert (Bob) S. Burns at Brouse McDowell's office in Akron, Ohio recently authored an article for Of Counsel Magazine titled “An Ongoing Saga:The Still Imperfect Relationship Between In-house and Outside Counsel. “ Among other subjects covered, he asks the question—“So how should outside counsel be selected?”

Answering his own question, he wrote: “I believe that a business should consider the ‘Five C's’: (1) competency; (2) capacity; (3) commitment; (4) communication; and (5) cost.” The summary below is his explanation of each of his Five C’s:

• Competency: The key word here is quality. Simply enough, the firm must be able to competently perform the work. The difficulty of the work should be the main driver. If it is a "bet the company" issue, a client needs the best firm it can afford. But for commodity type work, a client does not need a senior partner at an American Lawyer 100 firm. Basically, a client should only pay for what it needs.
• Capacity: The key word here is quantity. The firm must be able to completely handle the volume. The amount and location of the work should be the main driver. The firm must have enough attorneys, locations and affiliations to handle all or most of a client's needs (locally, regionally or globally, as well as functionally and specifically).
• Commitment: The key words here are dedication and collaboration.…, Clients expect you to know their people, know their business, know their industry and know their problems. Outside counsel are always convinced they know their clients, yet clients are rarely convinced that that is the case.
• Communication: The key words here are speed and clarity. The lack of both gets more firms fired than anything else. You never want a call or message saying "I can't ever get hold of John…Where are we on this?" Do not try an impress the client with your knowledge of Latin phrases or sub-sub-sub-section references to regulations. In other words, do not talk like a lawyer. Quite often, in-house counsel's greatest value-add is to translate the Company's business language into legal language for outside counsel and then to reverse the process. If there is no in-house counsel, make sure your clients understand by encouraging them to ask, "What do you mean by that?"
• Cost: The key words here are cost and value. Budgets are becoming the norm. Both sides should sit down before any major project to evaluate ways to reduce legal costs. Here, however, outside counsel should also emphasize any and all "value-added services" they can provide. ….. While law firms are touting their expertise and working hard to strengthen relationships, clients are focusing on costs and value added services. Therein is the biggest and longest running disconnect between in-house and outside counsel.

You can read Bob Burns’ entire article in PDF format here. His five C's are a useful outline for organizing your presentation to new business prospects. They can service as a guide for the firm's team to live by. Outside of the legal community, business leaders are quick to say "it all starts with sales". For the law firm business, "it all starts with the client"--getting them and retaining them.

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