When I read this ABA Journal article regarding the demands of In-House Counsel, I was struck once again by how outdated the traditional law firm is.  In describing the effort by some firms’ general counsel (or “GC”) to reduce the amount of money they spend on outside counsel, the author points out that, “[t]oday’s GCs are key strategists.”  The clear implication here is that outside counsel are not strategists.  Further, one GC is quoted as stating what to us here at Exemplar is patently obvious: “The hourly rate may be an outdated approach for us and not sustainable.”  Indeed.

Much ink has been spent on the layoffs in the legal profession, the downsizing of the large firms, and the difficulty for new grads in finding jobs.  There is a simple reason for all of this: The services that traditional law firms provide and the manner in which they provide them is not valuable.

But there is also a reason why Exemplar is growing by leaps and bounds amidst all this trouble in the profession.  We add value.  That’s it.  No bull, no fiddling with time clocks, no mess.

That basic mission is easy to understand and communicate, and I had the privilege the other day of explaining to a potential customer how we do business.  I mentioned to him that we understand that he does not care how much time it takes us to complete a job so long as it is done by the deadline and is of superior quality.  He agreed.  I continued by saying that we would give him predictability in his budgeting and guarantee our work.  He laughed and said he and others in his profession had given up on attorneys, preferring to do their legal work themselves precisely because they could never predict how much the lawyers were going to cost.  I finished by saying that, unlike others, we prefer to strategize with customers up front so that we can keep costs down in the long run.
Again, he smiled, half-exasperated and much impressed.  “It’s about time attorneys changed their business model.”

That time has come. Do you have the right law firm?