How do we proactively manage
Outside Counsel?
Lizzie Shilliam
Sr. Director of Chief Administrative Office Operations
The Hertz Corporation
Getting started
•  Current state analysis
–  How many law firms do you use?
•  How much do you spend with each of them annually?
–  What is your aggregate spend annually?
•  How many matters does each firm have open?
•  How well is each firm/attorney performing?
•  What are the fee arrangements? Hourly, alternative,
other?
•  What is/are their specialties?
•  Are other teams using outside counsel outside of the law
department?
Thought leadership
How many law
firms would we
like to work
with?
What do we want
outside counsel to
do for us?
How does the GC
want outside
counsel to interact
with the law
department?
Do we want a
preferred group?
Do we want to
invite additional
outside counsel?
What do we want
outside counsel
to look like?
What model(s)
would the attorney
like to use?
Request for Proposals
•  Compiled questions that were pertinent to the
attorneys
•  Provided a pricing matrix to ease analysis
•  Asked for value added services such as free hours
for advice, CLE’s, support for pro bono, project
management, etc.
•  Brought in the top 6 finalists for conversations and
invited attorneys to learn about PLN experience
•  Made a collective decision on what three firms to
move forward with for the PLN
–  With an additional 15 specialty firms
PLN Kick-off Meeting
•  All three PLN Law Firms in the same room with all of
our attorneys
–  Agenda topics vary:
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Expectations of each other
What keeps us awake at night
Monthly and Quarterly metrics to track
How we will collaboratively work together
•  A happy hour after the meeting for informal
conversation and relationship building
•  Quarterly meetings with all three PLN Relationship
Managers from the Law Firms on best practices and
operational excellence.
Five things we learned
•  General Counsel support is the most important
•  Not all law firms are experienced with AFA’s, PLN
relationships, or proactive budget management as it
relates to outside counsel spend
•  You will not know, unless you ask
•  Leverage law firms that are experienced to learn and
grow your law department
•  Find the creative attorneys in your department to
drive change and implement best practices
For questions or conversation feel to
reach out to:
Lizzie Shilliam
[email protected]
239.301.7306