The Burning Issue: Specialize in me, my business and my daily challenges

Law firms that deeply understand what makes you tick, take an interest in your business, your department objectives and can find ways to promote you, are the firms you are likely to engage with for the long-term. By a firm taking a genuine interest in understanding your company and your law department's goals and objectives, they are then able to provide deeply tailored, informed legal and business advice with a strategic perspective. Firms who look at assignments though this lens, are able to show you they are committed to your personal success as both a department head and company leader. By focusing on you and the business as the context, they can assess risks, scan horizons and provide actionable advice that you can then bring to your internal stakeholders. These behaviors makes a firm stand out as an integral partner.

GC Voice

|
  • "In my experience, the best law firm relationships have been those where the law firm has taken a genuine interest in understanding our company and our law department. Inevitably, they understood our law department's goals and objectives and as result, they were able to provide deeply informed advice with a strategic perspective. Overall, these actions demonstrate to me that these law firms were committed to our success as a company and as a law department."  — José Gonzalez, chief legal officer with Equitable Holdings Inc.
|
  • "The firm that understands our business better with each increasing assignment and provides more practical and efficient solutions with each engagement becomes a go-to firm.  As the good firms' attorneys go down the learning curve they become more like in-house partners rather than distant advisors." — Jay Grant, EVP, General Counsel, Univision Digital & News, U.S. 
|
  • "The general counsel's role is a key component of any corporate's overall business leadership and provides a unique '360 %' perspective that few other business units can bring to the table. We get to have visibility in to almost every organization's challenges and are critical to helping develop strategy at the most senior levels of the business. I encourage all my team to bring this same value to all levels of the organization that we counsel. We are constantly focused on value, including our own, and never lose sight of this being visible to all levels of the organization." — Nancy Scott, VP & Deputy General Counsel – EMEA Regional Lead, VMWare 

Lean Adviser Legal: The law firm perspective