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More on Budget-Conscious Corporate Clients
About six months ago, Susan Hackett, general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel, wondered why corporate clients weren't sufficiently outraged about increasing associate rates to demand change from large law firms. Well, apparently, corporate clients were sufficiently motivated to act, as evidenced by this article, Honeywell's Penny-Pinching Top Lawyer Squeezes Fees, which comes on the heels of Cisco GC Mike Dillon's critique of large firm rates in his classic blog post, The Way of the Mastodon.
The Bloomberg article reports on how Honeywell, through leadership of its GC Peter Kreindler, is finding ways to save on rates. For example, the company is cutting the number of firms that it uses so that it can give volume to remaining firms in exchange for bigger discounts. These discounts can shave 15 percent off hourly rates -- a substantial savings where some partners charge up to $1,000 an hour. At the same time, some firms get bonuses for good work, which help to offset the discounts.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on July 9, 2007 at 05:02 PM | Permalink
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