Overview

Managing your relationship with outside counsel
Two-day Conference – 10th & 11th March 2009
One-Masterclass – 12th March 2009
Hilton Euston, London WC1 

Evaluate the impact of current trends in the economy, globalisation, technology and business practices and discover how to extract maximum value from your outside counsel

• Manage the impact of the recession on legal spend, how this will affect your relationship with outside counsel and the challenges and opportunities it presents
• Discover how to systematically evaluate the performance of your outside counsel
• Learn how to manage expectations, develop workable transparency and build relationships you can rely upon
• Hear solutions to the challenges of fee structuring from your peers

“Gone are the days when in-house counsel send out major projects to outside counsel, pay vague bills for ‘services rendered’ and remain uninvolved…Over the past eight years, more in-house counsel have required specific terms of retention that govern what they expect from their outside counsel…It is likely that this trend will continue, as many in-house counsel state that they are planning to require even more of their firms in the future.” – Association of Corporate Counsel

In today’s current economic climate, corporates will be examining costs across the board and legal spend will be no exception. It is therefore more vital than ever that you are able to identify and prioritise your spending needs, evaluate the performance of your outside counsel, and ensure they are providing you with maximum value.
At the same time, a likely increase in disputes coupled with continuing levels of globalisation, mean that the need for reliable outside counsel that you can trust with core business issues, is stronger than ever.
This new environment, however long it lasts, will mean you will face new challenges and a realignment of priorities. However, this challenge will also provide an opportunity to showcase the level-headed strategic thinking in-house counsel can provide in managing legal resources during uncertain times.
After many years of stable economic growth, this may be the first time you or your team have experienced a genuine recession. There is therefore no better time for you to benchmark with your peers and hear innovative best practice at The Lawyer’s second annual conference on Managing the relationship with outside counsel.

Conference highlights include:

• Richard Wiseman of Shell will discuss Shell’s strategy for maximising value from their outside counsel and will provide an overview of how the current economic climate will impact upon future spend
• Andrew Garard, General Counsel of ITV, will tell you why he is dispensing with the traditional chargeable hour entirely – and what he intends to replace it with
• Robert Webb QC from BA will give his views on the relationship between in-house and outside counsel
• Find out what the SRA thinks the landscape for legal services will look like over the next 5 – 10 years and what this means for you
• Hear BAE’s new strategy for selecting outside counsel and how to create transparency of expectations to better manage the relationship
• Learn how GE uses a business focussed panel of firms to add value to their legal operations
• Hear why outside counsel should understand the culture and values of their clients from Google and The Crown Estates
• Share your views with the audience at two interactive panel sessions, featuring Credit Suisse, The Financial Times, HP, Legal & General, InBev and Severn Trent Water 
• Learn strategic thinking in a downturn with Julia Chain of H4 Partners
• Plus, hear case studies on managing outside counsel from Chubb Insurance, Habitat, Raytheon, NCH and Sara Lee

Do not miss the leading conference on the key issues impacting you right now and hear innovative strategies enabling you to work smarter, reduce spend and ultimately have a positive impact on the bottom line. Plus, don’t forget you can send the questions you would like addressed by our panellists to enquiries@thelawyerconferences.com

Masterclass 12th March 2009

Align legal spend with business strategy, drive accountability and master the skills to present the value of legal spend to the board
Learn what you can do to retain control of the scale and scope of legal spend in your company
Expertly led by: Julia Chain, CEO, H4 Partners

To reserve you place at the two-day Conference and one-day Masterclass follow the links on the left.