Join us in helping to create your future. You helped write the story you read last week in this magazine, Special News Flash, A Tour of A Primerus Law Firm of the Future.
Over 200 of you participated last summer in 24 one-hour brainstorming workshops and six two-hour roundtable sessions at the 2019 Global Conference last fall. The result of your collective imaginations is our very special make-believe law firm, Smith & Jones PC, a law firm that most lawyers would enjoy being part of and most clients would love to retain. If you have not had a chance to read the story yet, click here.
That was just Chapter One in our imaginary story. What’s next in Chapter Two? How did Marie find Smith & Jones PC, and why would her company retain a small 20 lawyer law firm in upstate New York for a multi-global acquisition project that would seemingly be the forte of New York City’s largest and finest law firms?
Let’s take a sneak preview into Chapter Two as the story continues: “Damn, damn,” is all Marie Baker could utter when she opened the envelope. Marie is Senior Corporate Counsel for Sentinel Acquisitions, one of the world’s fastest growing conglomerates of small companies manufacturing highly specialized machine tool products. “What’s wrong?” her assistant, Joselyn Boncher asked. “Here, look at this,” Marie said.
Joselyn stared, mouth wide open, at the last page. All she could see was $485,000. “What’s this, a ransom note or something?” she blurted out. “No”, Marie said, “but it sure feels like it. It is the final invoice from Big Law for their services in helping us close the Dundee Manufacturing deal in Atlanta last month.”
“It is outrageous, but not unusual,” Marie said. “Rob,” referring to the company’s president, Robert Thormbridge, “is not going to like it, but he will go ahead and hire them again for the next acquisition,” Marie said. “Why does the company keep doing that? Joselyn asked. “Fear,” Marie replied. “Big Law is good, but they are very expensive,” Marie explained. “They not only charge high hourly rates, but they put a lot of partners, associates and paralegals on every project of this size. They also have offices in many countries which is a big advantage to acquisition companies like ours.”
“But you are the head of corporate legal,” Joselyn said. “So what do you think if I do some internet searches to see if there might be some other options for Rob and the Board to consider?” “Well,” Marie replied, “we have tried that on several occasions in the past and it got us nowhere. The internet has its limitations and finding an alternative to Big Law, except for another Big Law that is just as expensive, is a waste of time. I have discussed this with Rob, and he feels that we really have no choice. But go ahead, Joselyn, and give it a try. Maybe there is something new out there that we don’t know about yet.”
Three days later, Joselyn drops by Marie’s office. “Marie, does the name Primerus mean anything to you,” Joselyn asks. “Well, not really, Marie responds, though I overheard a couple of my colleagues in the ACC raving about this new virtual law firm. I think they called it Primerus or something like that. All I know is that they were pretty excited.” “Well,” Joselyn said, “come into my office, I want to show you a website like nothing I have ever seen before. I think we have found the answer to Rob’s dream”. (Continued in the next Special News Flash)