Room Shoes and Off Broadway Shoes, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a past president and a founding board member of the Charlotte Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). ACC National Convention a few years ago, I was very supportive of the concept of bringing together high quality small to mid-sized firms to help in-house counsel like me find great lawyers for reasonable fees throughout the country. It is not uncommon for the in-house bar to hire a very large national firm with a well-known name to handle legal matters, based on the theory that the in-house attorney is doing everything he or she can by "hiring the best." I believe that the better approach is to find the appropriate lawyer for the appropriate case, not based on firm size or name recognition, but based on ability. If, as general counsel, I do that well, then I significantly lower cost. In my career, I have found smaller firms to be a tremendous resource. A decade ago, I was managing litigation for what was a Fortune 500 retailer with over 5,000 stores. I had success working with small insurance defense firms with excellent trial lawyers that were significantly less expensive than large firms. You just can't beat the expertise that you get from trial attorneys in small or mid-sized litigation firms. We recently retained a Primerus at- torney for a commercial lease dispute and received an incredible value. Our Prim- erus attorney represented us ably through discovery, depositions and settlement. The case settled on favorable terms and our legal expenses were very low. Primerus' continuing legal education (CLE) offerings have been a tremendous benefit to me. In fact, they are some of the best CLEs I attend. Their CLEs are never boring and are always informative and include practical advice and clear lessons. That's one way that I know lawyers they can clearly present CLEs in an entertaining manner. In September, I attended the Primerus Defense Institute Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith Seminar in Chicago. The Primerus lawyers presented a mock trial on a commercial litigation matter. It was wonderfully entertaining and informative. Moreover, I took away not only clear and convincing evidence that these Primerus attorneys are very good at what they do, but also important information and advice that I will use in working with my internal clients. At the Primerus social events, I have found the members to be stand-up people who get along well with one another. That good rapport among the Primerus attorneys tells me I can be assured that a Primerus attorney in one city will refer me to someone they know well and trust in another city. That rapport, along with my experience with these attorneys, tells me that I can rely upon the Primerus network of law firms. |