Every year new chapters are added to the critically acclaimed treatise and practice guide entitled Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel as new areas of corporate legal practice evolve and become increasingly important to corporate counsel. The new chapters added to this treatise in 2012 were discussed in book reviews in our April 2012 and May 2012 issues of The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. In addition to the new chapters, existing chapters are revised and replaced each year when there have been significant new developments in their subject matter. Five replacement chapters are discussed in this month’s review.
Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel is a four-volume, 7,000 page joint project of Thomson Reuters/West and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). The 275 authors of Successful Partnering include the general counsel of more than 80 Fortune 500 companies and the senior partners of many major law firms. The editor-in-chief is Robert L. Haig, a partner at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York. The 85 chapters in the treatise cover all aspects of corporate law department operations and management, 30 substantive law subjects, and all aspects of the relationships between inside and outside counsel. Five of the chapters that were replaced in 2012 are briefly discussed below.
Engagement Letters (Including Written Corporate Policies and Procedures)
This chapter discusses best practices for creating and using engagement letters and corporate policies to communicate and memorialize the expectations of inside and outside counsel, guide the relationship between attorney and client to avoid misunderstandings, govern disputes between attorney and client, and govern relationships among multiple clients retaining common counsel. The chapter was revised for 2012 by Peter Lieb, executive vice president and general counsel, Aon Corporation, Mark Herrmann, vice president and chief counsel – litigation, Aon Corporation, and Tracy K. Stratford, Jones Day.
The Planning Process
This chapter examines the planning process in-house counsel should follow in assessing the need for outside counsel, retaining outside counsel for a particular engagement, and creating and implementing policies and procedures for supervising a legal matter properly. The authors discuss strategic, tactical, and logistical planning issues as well as the importance of recognizing when strategic and tactical plans need to change. The chapter was revised for 2012 by Michael J. Sharp, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Jefferies Group, Inc., and Nader H. Salehi, Bingham McCutchen LLP.
Quality Management, Six Sigma, Re-engineering and Project Management
This chapter discusses three tools that inside and outside counsel can use to improve the way they work together and work with their business clients. The authors describe when, how, and why these tools can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legal services, highlight some of the factors to be considered in the decision to use them, and offer some “dos” and “don’ts” in deploying them. The second part of the chapter is a quick summary of each process, intended to help the reader understand how each works and to provide a “getting started” guide as a foundation for the next stages of learning and skill development. This chapter was revised for 2012 by A. Robert D. Bailey, executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Barbara E. Daniele, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, GE Capital, Americas, and Harry P. Trueheart, Nixon Peabody LLP.
Securities
This chapter provides an overview of the most likely ways in which securities laws may apply to a company and ideas on how to handle certain situations that may arise, particularly as they relate to interaction with outside securities counsel. The authors provide inside counsel with a practical primer on the basics of what they need to know to advise their company with respect to securities law matters and to effectively and efficiently work with outside securities counsel on such matters. This chapter was rewritten for 2012 by Jeffrey A. Fiarman, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Weight Watchers International, Inc., and Kenneth B. Wallach, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Arbitration of International Commercial Disputes
This chapter focuses on how arbitration can be used as an effective means of resolving international commercial disputes and what inside and outside counsel can do to maximize the advantages of arbitration for their client. The authors discuss the issues that commonly arise in the litigation of international disputes, how some of the problems of international litigation can be avoided through international arbitration, and consider how inside and outside counsel can work together with their client as a team in approaching the arbitration of an international dispute. This chapter was revised for 2012 by Maryanne R. Lavan, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Stephen E. Smith, former vice president and general counsel, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Louis B. Kimmelman, Allen & Overy LLP, Claudia E. Ray, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and Dana C. MacGrath, Allen & Overy LLP.
More Information
More information about Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel is available by calling West at (800) 344-5009 or online at http://store.westlaw.com.
Published May 21, 2012.