Post by account_disabled on Mar 10, 2024 19:03:39 GMT -10
November 30 FIDE held the session "Transformation and innovation in legal consultancies" of the Legal Management Forum. As speakers, they intervened Justo Garzón Ortega, Directorate of Planning and Corporate Governance of Iberdrola; Patricia Diaz, Partner in charge of New Law at PWC Tax and Legal Services and Juan Riego Vila, Director of Carrefour Legal Services. Co-director of the forum. He moderated the session Miguel Angel Perez De La Manga Falcon, Adviser to law firms in Spain and Latin America. Partner Black Swan Consulting. Co-director of the Forum. Business and innovation law transformation and innovation in internal legal consultancies[1] Regarding the management of legal firms, there is a tool known as "the virtuous circle of management"[2]. This virtuous circle aims to describe the continuous interconnection that exists in the three areas of the management of a legal firm –applicable to all professional services firms– and also makes the three markets in which these types of firms compete very clearly visible. Law firms compete against each other in three different markets, and success in that competition requires consistency and similar progress in each of those three markets; It is of little use to advance a lot or be the best in one, if one of the other two has been abandoned or defectively treated.
The three markets are the "partners" market, the "professionals" market and finally the "clients" market. The existence of these three markets –which in turn are three areas of management– and the intensity of competition and the need to act in each one of them is what has traditionally marked the difference in management in internal company legal consultancies –or legal department, or in-house or whatever we want to call it–, regarding the external office, or independent professional practice. In fact, when external firms consider legal advice as a "client", as an element within that market, it has traditionally led to the legal advice themselves considering their management exclusively Phone Number List as such, as buyers. , in the legal market; but on the other hand and at the same time as service providers for a single client for whom there is no need to compete, only to satisfy. A complex duality, being both a purchasing department and a law firm with a kind of unique and demanding client, but at the same time captive. On the other hand, and this is the main difference, an internal legal consultancy is not owned by its partners, by lawyers who, in addition to service providers, are entrepreneurs and business owners. Either in the form of temporary property –characteristic of partnerships– or any other way of relating to the equity, it is evident that the directors, heads, or managers of internal legal advice are not owners of their business, of their area of activity.
These two differences, and especially the last one, is what marks the differences in management and in the way of attending to the "virtuous circle". But traditionally this difference has had a attractive look which has meant that the management of the "customer market" and "professional market" and the variables and actions necessary for its improvement, have not been a management priority. For a long time, legal consultancies have been the best providers of internal legal services, so their management has been focused on this part of action, satisfying the needs of their only client in an efficient manner, appropriate to the budget and directing internal resources to this task and the contracting and coordination of the external ones. In such a way that they are one more tool of the business organization, with greater or lesser relevance depending on the type of organization and type of business. But this fact has caused many useful management and appropriate management tools to be relegated. However, and serving as an inspiring example, the organizations of the speakers, Iberdrola and Carrefour, and the help and consultancy that firms such as PWC provide to their clients, this starting situation is changing, and progress and innovation in management are being made. of internal consultancies in a more professional manner.
The three markets are the "partners" market, the "professionals" market and finally the "clients" market. The existence of these three markets –which in turn are three areas of management– and the intensity of competition and the need to act in each one of them is what has traditionally marked the difference in management in internal company legal consultancies –or legal department, or in-house or whatever we want to call it–, regarding the external office, or independent professional practice. In fact, when external firms consider legal advice as a "client", as an element within that market, it has traditionally led to the legal advice themselves considering their management exclusively Phone Number List as such, as buyers. , in the legal market; but on the other hand and at the same time as service providers for a single client for whom there is no need to compete, only to satisfy. A complex duality, being both a purchasing department and a law firm with a kind of unique and demanding client, but at the same time captive. On the other hand, and this is the main difference, an internal legal consultancy is not owned by its partners, by lawyers who, in addition to service providers, are entrepreneurs and business owners. Either in the form of temporary property –characteristic of partnerships– or any other way of relating to the equity, it is evident that the directors, heads, or managers of internal legal advice are not owners of their business, of their area of activity.
These two differences, and especially the last one, is what marks the differences in management and in the way of attending to the "virtuous circle". But traditionally this difference has had a attractive look which has meant that the management of the "customer market" and "professional market" and the variables and actions necessary for its improvement, have not been a management priority. For a long time, legal consultancies have been the best providers of internal legal services, so their management has been focused on this part of action, satisfying the needs of their only client in an efficient manner, appropriate to the budget and directing internal resources to this task and the contracting and coordination of the external ones. In such a way that they are one more tool of the business organization, with greater or lesser relevance depending on the type of organization and type of business. But this fact has caused many useful management and appropriate management tools to be relegated. However, and serving as an inspiring example, the organizations of the speakers, Iberdrola and Carrefour, and the help and consultancy that firms such as PWC provide to their clients, this starting situation is changing, and progress and innovation in management are being made. of internal consultancies in a more professional manner.