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Controlling Outside Legal Spend Surpasses Compliance Requirements as Top Concern for in-House Counsel
Reuters
Oct 20, 2009
Ninth Annual ACC/Serengeti `Managing Outside Counsel Survey` Reveals In-House Counsel are Looking for Innovative, Value-Driven Solutions BOSTON & WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)-- For the first time in three years, controlling spending on outside counsel has returned as the top priority for in-house counsel, topping compliance concerns, according to the results of the 2009 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside CounselSurvey, a collaboration between the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Serengeti Law, released at ACC`s Annual Meeting, October 19 in Boston, MA. While compliance issues had reigned for three years, economic factors from the past year have altered the key focus for in-house counsel. The need to drive efficiency is leading to more value-based policies to reduce overall legal spend. Such policies include requiring minimum levels of associate experience, discounts for early payment of bills, engaging in RFPs, and reducing the number of law firms representing the company. For those firms they retain, clients are looking to negotiate more flexible value-based fee and service models.