jump across Sergey Nivens – Fotolia

Introduction: The Rock and the Hard Place

There are forces at work that continue to disrupt the legal services industry.

Big Law continues to increase starting salaries and raise hourly rates, and total compensation and benefits for in-house lawyers, especially general counsel, continue to grow. Between a rock and hard place, businesses are looking for ways to reduce the cost of and meet the demand for legal advice and counsel in an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment.

A growing pool of former general counsel, deep in experience and steeped in judgment, are underutilized, not hired by Big Law because they do not command a book of business and mostly aged out of their next GC assignment.