Best Practices Emerge From Client-Focused Planning

Originally published in Corporate Counsel, January 2007.

Recently, I had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in two multi-day meetings involving clients and their primary outside counsel. One of the meetings involved the client, its key outside counsel, and "faculty" — lawyers and vendors who have embraced partnering relationships. This particular client had not previously embraced partnering as a value but had become persuaded of the value of that dynamic. The second meeting involved a client who has been committed to partnering relationships for years. This client is one of the most highly regarded forward thinkers involving partnering relationships and using metrics to value performance. Both events serve as powerful evidence from opposite ends of the spectrum of the real value of partnering relationships between clients and their counsel.