is for corporate counsel to find a good
international law firm and how often
they've ultimately regretted their choice.
The study found 45 percent of
North and Latin American companies
fired the international law firms they
hired, most often due to poor service
and communication problems. The
study, "The Selection and Retention of
International Law Firms," conducted
by LexisNexis and Martindale-Hubbell,
asked 157 in-house counsel in Canada,
the U.S. and Latin America about their
hiring of foreign law firms (meaning those
operating outside their domestic market).
"This statistic is very unfortunate
and shows exactly why Primerus is the
answer for corporate counsel around the
world," said Primerus President and
Founder John C. (Jack) Buchanan. "Very
high quality and reasonably priced law
firms is an invaluable service Primerus
can provide to clients. We do the hard
work of selecting and screening the best
law firms and then we work every day to
ensure they're meeting clients' needs at
the highest standard."
Buchanan said Primerus has a broad
strategy to ensure that their law firms
worldwide are of the highest quality,
so clients don't experience the trend
reflected in this survey problems
with poor quality work and service
from law firms. "We call ourselves the
world's finest law firms and we mean it,"
Buchanan said.
Primerus is the first place they look for
a quality, reasonably priced law firm,
whether for work in the United States
or abroad.
Matthew Morrison, Vice President of
Claims Legal for QBE North America,
said many Primerus firms are on his
company's panel of approved counsel,
and he calls on them routinely for
litigation needs throughout the United
States. Consistent quality from one
Primerus firm to another gives him the
confidence he needs to hire them.
"If a firm is a member of Primerus,
we can make the analogy that it must
be just as good as the Primerus firm we
just worked with in Texas, or anywhere
else," Morrison said. "We have a comfort
level that we have the right attorneys
for the case."
any Primerus firm is just one reason why
Primerus recently established a Quality
Assurance Board. The board's role is to
ensure high quality service is provided
to all Primerus clients by reviewing the
performance of member firms, facilitating
client matter referrals and identifying
best practice standards.
According to Quality Assurance
Board chairman David Villadolid, the
board is an important part of Primerus'
larger efforts of selecting, screening
of member firms. "The selection of
competent and trusted counsel is the
most important task, and Primerus has
already done that in many international
locations," he said. "But expanding and
deepening the mutual understanding
of our individual business and cultural
customs is another essential way that all
Primerus attorneys ensure their clients
will continue to be well served."
According to Buchanan, the Quality
Assurance Board is just one aspect of
Primerus' larger coordinated effort to
make sure that every one of its lawyers is
the "world's finest."
"Everything Primerus does comes
together in the big picture," Buchanan
said. "And that big picture is to bring
the world's finest law firms together with
great clients in the delivery of fine legal
services for reasonable fees."
Other ways Primerus assures the
quality of its members include:
Primerus in 1992 because he saw
a pressing need for an organization
that would help restore honor and
dignity to the legal profession and
rebuild the eroding trust in lawyers
and the judicial system. In order
to help accomplish that, Primerus
established the Six Pillars to convey
the core values of every member law
firm and lawyer. Primerus lawyers
are committed to living by these
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