Legal Research

"In-house Law Departments and Trust"

This post was written by Jim Hassett: "When I published the results of our national survey of alternative fees, one of the most discouraging sections concerned the lack of trust between in-house law departments and the firms that serve them.  Although the interviews were focused on alternative fees, the findings also have implications for hourly work.

If you made a list of the most common characteristics of successful lawyers, would you put trust near the top of the list?  Me neither.  An inherent predisposition to be suspicious is a barrier to agreeing on alternative fees and to making them work:...

...In the end, alternative fees will work best in long term relationships where there is an atmosphere of trust..."

Full text and active link are available by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Legal Business Development, 10 March 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).