Research by Lex Mundi at its Annual General Counsel Summit showed GCs are now under more pressure to justify the cost of outside counsel. Therefore, those firms ‘that can show they are providing value through efficiencies, staffing, budgeting, and more, are more likely to remain in the game,’ according to Lex Mundi’s ‘Summit Report 2020: General Counsel in a fragmented risk reality’.
GCs said desirable characteristics of law firms included ‘greater proactivity as to issue-spotting and ‘multidisciplinary external support to complement legal advice, for example, government affairs, public relations, data-science, market analysis’.
The pandemic has also caused GCs to speed up their advice and to focus more on business strategy as well as continuity.
Eric Staal, VP global markets, Lex Mundi, said: ‘In practical terms, GCs are, like never before, looking for ways to be more agile, ie deliver smarter, faster legal guidance for time-critical decisions.’
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