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Responding to Client Calls for Value
For many years, corporate counsel and other executive-level buyers of legal services have been alerting law firms to their growing concern over the gap between rising law firm fees and the value of services delivered. Despite mounting client frustration, the law firm value proposition in the legal industry has remained relatively unchanged, with most firms continuing to bill clients by the hour and raising rates annually. These trends largely supported paying associates' ever-increasing salaries and drove higher partner profits ' neither of which served to improve the value of services delivered to clients. Client concerns about rising fees and the “value” of services have been previously overshadowed by years of enormous demand for legal services, enabling firms to avoid undergoing significant change to the traditional service delivery model. However, over the past year, market dynamics have aligned, creating an opportunity to transform services provided by law firms in order to better meet or exceed client demands.
Legal services purchasing power has shifted to a highly sophisticated, business savvy, and now frustrated client group, heralding the possibility of groundbreaking changes in the way that law firms and their clients interact. Today, clients appear to be gaining ground in calling upon law firms to step-up and deliver “value.” Three demand-related factors are driving this market shift. First, corporate boards (and for private companies, CFOs and other executive leaders) recognize that legal costs far outweigh any other expense of the business, and are placing growing emphasis on reducing legal spend; second, increased competition is driving down costs; and third, technological advances now provide tools that enable improved service delivery. The buyer is well educated and readily expecting law firms to respond with efficient, high-quality, cost-effective services.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.