As the old saying goes – there is strength in numbers. That’s what companies are finding out as they join together to put the squeeze on escalating legal costs:
"Apparently even big companies don’t have as much leverage with their outside counsel as they’d like. For almost a year, lawyers from eight of the largest corporations in the country have been meeting and exchanging information. Their goal? To get better rates and service from their law firms.
The group, which first came together last fall, includes in-house attorneys from Cisco Systems Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., FMC Technologies Inc., General Motors Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
(Participants declined to identify the remaining three companies.) Together they oversee a collective annual legal budget exceeding $1 billion. While they’re still mostly in the talking stage, they’ve moved forward on a few projects, including an effort to rate selected law firms."
Read more at this Law.com article: GCs Engage in ‘Collective Bargaining’ for Legal Fees.
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