"A successful partnership is … like a well-coached soccer team, where each player knows their role and responsibilities, and where all players are focused on the ultimate goal.  If our internal and outside counsel can work as a team whose skills and expertise complement, not compete, with each other, we are likely to reach our goal in an efficient, cost-effective manner. " — José Gonzalez, EVP& General Counsel, CNA, USA

A legal project should be a contact sport — the lawyer needs to involve the client. In this lesson we clarify the ground rules for that. There are many decisions to make, but who owns which ones? Maybe these are things we don't discuss enough. But when we do start to unpack this and set out some guidelines, we can see how important it is in obtaining the right outcome.

As we shall discuss, planning is the first stage of our four-stage structure and within the planning stage are six components. Planning should start and end with agreeing on an Anticipated Range of Outcomes with the client. The importance of the words "with the client" cannot be overstated.

The first thing the lawyer should do is understand the client's expectations (see Lesson 1:1 Meeting Client Expectations). If the client is a business owner, then this is a direct conversation. If the client has a legal department, then the point of contact with the client will be the general counsel or a team member. But the conversation is still essential. The lawyer needs to understand the expectations of the client, but we need to remember that the GC will want to manage the expectations of the board.

Work on desired outcomes and required resources should always be scoped jointly by the lawyer and client. But there is one subtlety. When it comes to desired outcomes, the client defines them and the lawyer considers whether to sign up, reposition expectations or decline. But with resources it is the opposite — the lawyer defines what is needed and the client considers whether to make the resources available, negotiate or decline.