A potent but overlooked conflict thwarts many efforts by general counsel to control outside counsel fees. The conflict is that the individual lawyers in the department who are responsible for directing law firms and reviewing the firm’s bills don’t really want to skimp on expenditures. To the contrary, those lawyers — let’s call them “line lawyers” because they are on the firing line, so to speak — may not try hard to hold the line on costs but instead want the law firm to pour its best lawyers into the matter, work their heads off and shower success on the line lawyer. Their self-interest conflicts with the company’s interest.
Despite a general counsel’s exhortations to tighten the fiscal belt, line lawyers want the law firm to represent the company eagerly and use its best lawyers amply. They want the firm to jump to their assistance without reservations about penny-pinching. The conflict surfaces because big bills can boost the career and job satisfaction of the line lawyer as he or she basks in the praise for successes accomplished in part by the costly services of the outside firm.
