Page 4 - Partnership

S4 | MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 | Partnership
| NYLJ.COM
BY HENRY NASSAU
The business of law is changing swiftly, reflecting our world at large. Global markets are in ux, regulatory winds are ever-shifting, and the fundamental calculus of risk and reward gains new variables every day. As companies evolve to keep pace, their general counsel are rightly demanding more and different services from their outside law rms.
How can their law rms prepare to accept this new challenge? Certainly, not by merely tweaking the existing, traditional framework for service delivery. Law rms must become the engines of their own, swift evolution or risk losing the con dence (and the business) of their clients.
In my view, every lawyer would bene t from having had the opportunity to be a client whose company was going through a tough time. I was fortunate to have served in sev- eral executive roles, including chief operat- ing of cer, at a tech-focused venture capital group. The experience made me realize that, to many decision-makers in client organiza-
HENRY N. NASSAU is Dechert’s chief executive o cer and served as chair of the rm’s corporate and securi- ties group for an aggregate of 14 years. He previously served as general counsel and chief operating o cer at a publicly-traded technology company.
Collaboration as Superpower: Optimizing Value
To Lead in the Future
tions, law rms are nothing more than an unavoidable operational cost. Our services show up as a line item on a project plan. And there often are a couple of question marks after the numbers, signaling an unspoken belief that the cost exceeded the need and value of the services given.
The challenge for every law firm is to change those question marks into exclama- tion points—to demonstrate value far beyond the legal advice provided. This requires adopt- ing a profoundly different model for serving clients. I believe that the rms that will emerge as leaders in the coming decades will share certain key strengths, among them:
• Understanding how to create value for their clients, and reshaping their pro les—from practice areas to geographies of operation—to sync with clients’ market- de ned priorities;
• Deepening their market savvy as it relates to their clients and their ability to compete—
truly understanding the key issues and align- ing the law rm’s interests with solving those issues;
• Determining which areas of the law are most vital to their clients, and becoming pre-
Developing the superpower of collaboration demands a sig- ni cant shift from a traditional partner-dominated rm culture.
mier thought leaders and specialized knowl- edge experts in those areas; and
• Transforming their processes to become more open, predictive, and knowledge-based. Each rm will, of course, arrive at its own strategies for gaining these strengths. In my view, however, one important strategy can
effectively boost all these strengths at the same time: Collaboration.
Let me explain my reasoning. In the legal services business, the client projects with the highest value are those that are large, complex, specialized, multijurisdictional and high-stakes.
How does a law rm match its capabilities to such ventures? By cultivating a method of operating that successfully draws on the talents of a mobile, global employee base that interacts, shares and communicates seamlessly.
It starts with building cross-functional teams that can ef ciently deliver not just legal insights, but business insights that can help solve the client’s problems—which is the absolute best thing we can do for them. These teams must possess specialized knowledge of the global legal and regula- tory world as well as a deep understanding of the client’s challenges and the backstories
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We are pleased to announce that
Susanne L. Flanders Natalie D. Lieber Dennis J. McMahon
have become Partners of our firm resident in our New York office
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