Inside 4Q2013 2 ....Taking Charge of Legal Spending - The ACC Value Challenge 4 ....Internal Investigations from a Practical Perspective 5 .....ACC News 6 ....Past Event Photos 8 .....Five Tips for Preparing Effective Intellectual Property Assignments 9 ....Upcoming Events 10 ...Welcome New Members! 10 ..Board Members and Contacts FOCUS President’s Message Kevin Whyte, Carmeuse Lime & Stone My term as President, which I have • We arranged a joint CLE/ Where have we fallen short? enjoyed immensely, has come to a close. networking event with the One area in which we !e ACC is a wonderful organization that Washington County Bar have not made progress is o"ers many resources and opportuni- Association. advocacy for certain posi- ties to in- house lawyers. I intend to stay • We established the use of tions in which the in-house involved and to take advantage of such LinkedIn to communicate bar has a special interest. resources and opportunities. with our membership. We ACC National is very active First, I would like to thank Barb Dudek, would hope that the use with respect to advocacy our Chapter Administrator. Barb’s experi- of this tool will increase as initiatives. I have not done a ence, attention to detail, dedication and members become increas- good job of supporting such creativity ensure that things get done ingly aware of the ease of e"orts. Certainly, this is an promptly and in a professional man- communicating by this medium. area in which we can improve. ner. Second, I would like to thank all of • We initiated a program to reward an As mentioned in an earlier Focus article, our o#cers and board members. Every individual member active in pro bono we appreciate any feedback that you may time that something needed to be done, e"orts by o"ering a monetary contribu- provide. !e annual survey o"ers a good volunteers from the Board stepped up to tion to the organization in which he or chance for you to give your opinions, but the plate. We have been fortunate for the she is involved. Given the high level of there is no need to wait. If you have any committed team of talented professionals commitment by many of our members opinions or ideas to o"er, let us know. leading our Chapter. to pro bono activities, participation Finally, I would like to thank all of you, Susan Apel will serve as the President was more limited than we expected. our members, especially those of you who in 2014 and I am sure that she will lead Nevertheless, I believe that this is a have participated in the various events the Chapter to new heights. She has put good idea that the Board may wish to and CLEs organized throughout the together a sterling slate of o#cers and pursue in the future. year. I hope that you will continue to stay directors for 2014. I know that the future • Our CLE programs continue to be well involved. See you around. of the Chapter is in great hands! attended and the quality of presenta- It is always good to re$ect on accomplish- tions remains high. ments and also to consider what could • Our membership continues to grow at a have been done better. Our Board led slow but steady rate. We started the year many positive advances in 2013. Some with 404 members and as of September examples include: 30th, the membership totaled 420. • Several board members organized a • Our %nancial position remains strong, CLE with the Pirates’ General Counsel which allows us to, among other things, followed by a Pirates’ game in one of the make signi%cant contributions to stadium boxes. !e feedback regarding worthwhile organizations. this event was very positive. Taking Charge of Legal Spending - The ACC Value Challenge By Catherine Moynihan, Director of Legal Management Services, ACC What an interesting and exciting time ship in 2011, based entirely on value- to be working as in-house counsel. !e based fee arrangements. !e agreement balance of power has shi&ed. Corporate sets a base price combined with a per- counsel are taking the reins %rmly in formance bonus, while making adjust- hand, proactively managing legal spending ments for in-sourcing over time; and the legal function to drive better value VAL UE CHAMPION • Target and Nilan Johnson Lewis have for clients. As the ACC Value Challenge parsed employment legal work into four reaches its 5-year anniversary, we could components and applied a slightly dif- not be more excited about these changes. ferent retainer model to each and, along ACC launched the Value Challenge Convergence and Conversion to with prevention measures, achieved (AVC) in September 2008 in response Value-Based Fees 20% savings; to the disproportionate growth in legal • Bank of America reduced it approved • Similarly, RBC Capital Markets and costs relative to other business expenses. law %rms from hundreds down to a Morgan Lewis have teamed up to yield Worse, companies were smarting over “litigation roundtable” of 30 and moved savings of 35% by tailoring fee struc- the extreme unpredictability of legal over 80% of its litigation to %xed fees; tures to the speci%c matter or portfolio; spending. The ACC Value Challenge • United Technologies has 70% of its out- is committed to the proposition that • Tyco International works with only one side spending on value-based fees, and law firms and law departments can %rm, Shook Hardy & Bacon, on all of is on the march to 100%; improve efficiency through better its US litigation. Together, they have cut relationship, management, and pricing • O#ce Depot reached a tipping point of product liability cases in half, new case practices, and still reduce costs (while over 50% of outside spend on value- %lings by 65%, and case cycle time by maintaining law firm profitability). based fees, tailoring the fee type to the 40% since 2004; practice area (employment, securi- The Value Challenge is not just a call • Sherwin Williams demonstrated how ties, real estate, even patent troll joint to action. To help law department and the use of a single %rm, Gallagher defense); law firm leaders control costs, the ACC Sharp, to coordinate designated types provides resources, educational oppor- • P%zer, GlaxoSmithKline and Home of matters nationwide can result in tunities and, importantly, shares what’s Depot are at or on the march to 100% of signi%cant savings (15%) and improved working in the value movement. The outside spending on value-based fees, outcomes, particularly when both inside AVC res ource librar y is chock full of and the list goes on… and outside counsel undergo techni- examples of effective “value practices” cal product training in order to more employed by legal departments and Moving the Right Work to the Right e"ectively represent the client. law firms, as well as guides to imple- Resource – Downshi!ing Low Value menting value-based fees, outside Work and Upshi!ing Strategic Work Multi-faceted Value Initiatives – Pulling counsel management, project manage- • Nike and British Telecom have imple- Lots of Value Levers ment, strategic staffing, knowledge mented legal work intake portals, managed • Marsh & McLennan and Medtronic management and more. And ACC’s by an LPO and a law %rm respectively, that have handled huge growth in demand Legal Service Management workshops, use playbooks to allocate the work. Lower for their legal services, while holding offered twice a year, provide hands on value, repetitive work is outsourced and steady on in-house counsel sta#ng and training in using key tools and tech- in-house counsel get to handle the more decreasing outside legal spending by niques. We welcome both internal and complex, strategically important work; leveraging technology, converging and external counsel to take advantage of converting to value-based fees – great • When Mondelez was spinning o" Kra& the AVC resource library and partici- models of focused leadership guided by Foods, it worked with Axiom to address pate in the workshops. benchmarking and metrics; the 20,000 patents, 40,000 contracts Leading Value Practices – The and 80,000 trademarks, supported by • NetApp has combined implement- ACC Value Champions playbooks – all for a %xed fee. ing new technology with legal process Since 2012, ACC has been recognizing and project management, outsourcing, Taking Client/Firm Collaboration To and strong outside counsel manage- the inspiring accomplishments of legal the Next Level – Preventative Lawyering department leaders implementing value ment practices – value-based fees and • Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of initiatives. !e ACC Value Champions quarterly business reviews – to speed up Canada (HIROC) and Borden Ladner demonstrate the myriad ways that legal legal services cost-e"ectively. Gervais negotiated a six-year partner- department leaders can drive value. continued on page 3 2 Western Pennsylvania Chapter FOCUS 4Q13 continued from page 2 Smaller Departments Driving Value - external counsel. Theme: “Working For more information about the ACC In Lots of Ways and in Lots of Countries together, how can we improve the value Value Challenge, contact ACC’s Director • United Retirement Plan Consultants of legal services?” Some suggested of Legal Management Services, Catherine (US) collaborated creatively with its law questions to discuss: J Moynihan at [email protected]. %rm, Porter Wright, to create a tool to • How can we improve trust and improve overcome two of most common barriers our relationship, on both sides? “The ACC Value Challenge to %xed fees – lack of data and risk of provides online resources, variability in project scope; • How can we assure an adequate $ow skill-building workshops and of work so that outside lawyers under- • Lucchini (Italy) has bene%ted greatly stand the client better and can be more benchmarking information, all from its GC’s leadership on vendor e#cient in what they do? of which the RBC team have management and use of technology- enabled decision-making and process • How can we get junior lawyers bet- utilized.