General Counsel Panelists to Legal Marketers: 'You Have to Find Ways to Change With Us'
Three top in-house lawyers told attendees of the Legal Marketing Association's annual conference in Atlanta that firms must take more initiative in learning their clients' business.
April 10, 2019 at 05:47 PM
4 minute read
Mark Smolik, general counsel and chief compliance officer at DHL Supply Chain Americas, says the average cost of a senior member of his in-house legal team is $174 an hour. Thus, his message to hundreds of legal marketing professionals gathered Wednesday in Atlanta for their annual conference was loud and clear: “I can't afford to pay you $800 an hour.”
Dubbed “An Inside View: General Counsel Perspectives on the Use of Alternative Legal Service Providers and Artificial Intelligence,” the panel discussion featuring Smolik and other top in-house lawyers was a plea to law firms to remain relevant amid the trend of more work becoming commoditized and going in-house. Corporate Counsel parent company ALM Media sponsored the panel, which was moderated by Richard Caruso, ALM Media vice president and general manager for legal media.
“With the incredible amount of innovation and change we're seeing in our industry, this is resulting in fundamental business model changes for us, which should be impacting you,” said Alexia Maas, senior vice president and GC at Volvo Financial Services. At least in the compliance area, “it is no longer good enough for us and thus for you to be just a support function. We are changing so you have to find ways to change with us.”
While implementing technology and using outside vendors are a large part of the modern legal department's evolution, all of DHL's customer contracts are handled by trained nonlawyers, and Maas says her department is “embracing” legal tech disrupters to help with the legal compliance function. For example, the panelists echoed a familiar refrain: Take more initiative in learning our business.
“We will continue to look for [alternatives] in discrete areas like technology or document review, but the real threat for firms are other firms that become better partners with their clients than your firms,” said Will Barnette, associate general counsel at The Home Depot.
As an example, Smolik cited the firm that pitched him when a major suit was filed against Ohio-based DHL in federal court. That firm, which sent a two-page analysis of the case—covering the judge, opposing counsel, a proposed strategy as well as a budget—got the work. The document, Smolik said, was drafted by a young associate.
“That approach was very, very entrepreneurial,” he said. “That was six years ago, and I still turn to [that firm].”
To Maas, a firm's ability to understand the business on an operational level is “what is going to differentiate the [alternative legal service providers] from the firms.”
“I feel this is where we're still missing, where we're not connecting on the level we should be,” she said. “Help us help you operationalize your expertise because we need that quick fast executive guidance.”
In addition to learning their clients' business on a deeper level, Maas said firms also would be well-served to “mirror what we are doing.”
“We are embracing disrupters and working with them to find a new way forward in this new world, and I would suggest you do the same: 'Is there something you can do together to offer to us?'”
Smolik pointed out that, even though he is DHL's top lawyer, he is far from the only person involved in major buying decisions on behalf of his department. In fact, the new entrants in the market, Deloitte and PwC, for example, are approaching companies' chief financial officers, whom they have known and worked with for several years first, he added.
“You're failing to recognize that the company behind us is run by entrepreneurs, and they're expecting us to act that way, and we're expecting you to act that way,” Smolik said. “The law firm that speaks as a businessperson first and lawyer second is going to get more and more of our business.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllInside Track: AI Is Sure to Fray Big Law's Devotion to Billable Hour
Up-and-Comer Scores First Legal Chief Post With Baltimore Orioles, the Team He Cheered for as Kid
From Reluctant Lawyer to Legal Trailblazer: Agiloft's GC on Redefining In-House Counsel With Innovation and Tech
7 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250