About

Working for a tobacco company means product liability litigation is something of an inevitability, and John Reilly has worked tirelessly to ensure it is handled in an efficient and cost-effective way. He is one of a number of in-house counsel to find that e-billing offers a number of significant advantages, but that is just one of many changes he has implemented. He is credited with establishing an in-house document and e-discovery practice for the company, hence bringing more work in-house and saving on costs. He manages the company’s case management extranet, which allows outside counsel to share case files and work product that can then be used by the in-house team for reporting purposes. Also significant was the bold decision to stray from the national/local counsel model commonly used, in favour of a national/regional approach. Since doing so, the team has saved money and had successful litigation results, even in plaintiff-friendly Los Angeles. Considering this theme of cost-cutting, it is unsurprising to learn that Reilly has implemented a number of AFAs and says he would like more firms to become open to the idea of using them. He says ‘many firms still see these agreements as a way for clients to extract additional discounts, rather than as a way to redefine the value of legal services in a manner that is fair to both parties, and that provides greater predictability of legal costs’. In fact, Reilly says working to change inefficient law firm processes is one of the biggest challenges he faces. But, he says ‘I enjoy working on challenging issues in litigation and e-discovery, and I have been privileged to work with some of the finest lawyers in this country on interesting and complex litigation’.