RNAL

THE LAWYER'S MAGAZINE / JANUARY 1995 / $7.00

JJJJUJJ
How these attorneys are luring
the corporate heavyweights
BILL JONES, 4-lawyer firm,
Keystone International

DEBORAH BOBBINS,
11-lawyer firm,
Hewlett-Packard

PETEB FBIEDMANN, solo,

Reebok

THE LAWYER'S MAGAZINE / JANUARY 1995 / VOLUME 81

P A G E

N E

JURNAL
COVER STORY /LAW PRACTICE

48

SMALL FIRMS, BIG CLIENTS

By Steven Keeva and Kerry Klumpe
Small firms are making inroads in handling legal work
for major corporate clients that once dealt only with
large firms. Their selling points include attentive service,
niche specialties and lower fees.

^m

56

TORT LAW

WHEN THINGS GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

By Martin Moore-Ede
In our 24-hour society, more workers must cope with
fatigue from off-hours work. Sleep deprivation is
raising new liability issues.

FIRST AMENDMENT

62

THE PRAYER PENDULUM

By Pamela Coyle
Lawsuits and legislation over prayer in the schools
have increased since a 1992 Supreme Court decision.
A major issue is what constitutes "voluntary" prayer.

^m

68

LITIGATION

BEYOND THE SHOUTING

By Gerry Spence
The ability to listen in the courtroomto go beyond the
spoken words to what is really being saidis at the
heart of any successful oral argument.

7O

PLAYING TO THE BENCH

By Michael Ponsor
A federal judge offers a checklist to help lawyers
present their best arguments to the court, including
adequate preparation, structuring of presentation, and
appropriate responses to judges' inquiries.

(ISSN 074-008) 1995 ABA Journal is published monthly by the American Bar Association. Editorial, advertising, subscription and circulation offices:
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A R A ini I P M A I

/ IAMI I A DV

ON THE COVER
Solo and small-firm lawyers service big-name clients.
COVER PHOTO CREDITS- PHOTO MONTAGE BY ROB SCHUSTER ABAJ/THAINE
MANSKE, 'CHRISTMAS TREE,' WIESS ENERGY HALL, HOUSTON MUSEUM OF
SCIENCE; ABAJ/LINDA SUE SCOTT, HEWLETT PACKARD; ABAJ/ROB CRANDALL

C O N T E N T S

jeURNAL
T W 0
P A G E

SUBSTANTIVE LAW
36

AT ISSUE

38

Independence for paralegals

SUPREME COURT PREVIEW
Targeting lawyer solicitation bans

40

SUPREME COURT REPORT

Race-related cases resurface

44

TRENDS IN THE LAW

47

Courts OK distress suits by bystanders

FOCUS: FAMILY LAW

Relief under IRS innocent-spouse rule

PRACTICE TIPS

73
75

LITIGATION

14 A GOP Congress is likely to push for legal change.

SOLO NETWORK

16 California's three-strikes law draws fiscal criticism.

The storyteller's edge

Roles of secretaries changing in '90s

76

PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
Nonclients gaining success in suits

79

IN RE TECHNOLOGY
Indexing, conferencing and shareware
LIFESTYLE

78

OUT OF THE OFFICE

83

BOOKS

85

Tool time at New Orleans mansion

Revisiting Hill vs. Thomas

YOUR FINANCES
Choosing a long-distance call plan
DEPARTMENTS

LETTERS

34

OBITER DICTA

80

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

81

NEW PRODUCTS
Software for lawyers
YOUR ABA

Bar leaders now head EEOC

90

LEGAL MART

90

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

96

20 Women victims of violence get a federal venue.

22 Technology conference showcases court of the future.
24 Critics say ideology lacking in Clinton judicial picks.
26 Dearth of minority jurors prompts three reform plans.
27 A judge's lunch with senators is ruled not improper.
28 In-house legal staffs still make good economic sense.
29 More law firms are making a partner general counsel.
31 A tort reformer's zeal backfires after he is injured.
32 Foreign acquisition of U.S. legal publishers continues.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

10

86

DEVELOPMENTS

PERSPECTIVE

Loan forgiveness for public service jobs

4 ABA JOURNAL/JANUARY 1995

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The ABA Journal is available for online
topic searches through Lexis (in the ABA
Library, ABAJNL file beginning January
1983] and WESTLAW (in the ABAJ data
base beginning January 1985).

COVER STORY / LAW PRACTICE

Small Firnis

BIG CLIENTS
C

harles Pautsch has a client

list most any lawyer would
envy. His labor practice includes regulatory work for Ace
Hardware, contract negotiations for
Ben Franklin Stores, and representation of the Sportmart chain of
sporting goods stores.
So is Pautsch some well-connected partner in one of corporate
America's mega firms?
Hardly. Wessels & Pautsch is
an 18-lawyer practice located in St.
Charles, 111., about 50 miles northwest of the marble-and-glass office
towers of downtown Chicago.
Like Pautsch, lawyer Harley I.
Lewin represents names that are
part of the national culture: Reebok
and Keds athletic shoes, Guess
clothing, and Fila sportswear. And,
also like Pautsch, he does it in a
firm that barely would rank as a
good-size practice section in one of
the giants: Lewin & Laytin has 10
lawyers and two secretaries in New
York City.
What solo and small-firm lawyers such as Pautsch and Lewin
have discovered in the new rules of
American business is that there is a
chair for them at the corporate
table.
To take it, they have adopted
aggressive plans for client development, leveraged prior law-practice
experiences and contacts, capped
expenses, and exploited specialtyniche skills.
Their techniques have delivered clients ranging from the
largest employers or manufacturers in local economies to worldwide
investment houses and retailers.
"This is not necessarily a time
when large corporations are looking
for large law firms. They have inhouse law departments that are

The new rules of American business are also good

for solo and small-firm lawyers. Bui capturing some
of the major corporate legal work that once went
exclusively to large firms requires a strategy of
client development, niche specialties and low fees.
JOURNALINK
TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION WITH
THE LAWYER'S MAGAZINE

This special report begins a new ABA

Journal service that lets readers participate in
live teleprograms on practice-oriented and
substantive low topics.
The story and program complement
each other. Details for participating in the
Jan. 18 teleprogram are on Page 55.
This report on solo and small-firm
lawyers was researched by Steven Keeva, an
ABA Journal assistant editor, and written by
Kerry Klumpe, ABA Journal managing editor
and a lawyer.

sometimes looking for specialty services that can come from large or
small firms," says Allan Tanenbaum, chair of the ABA General
Practice Section whose 14-lawyer
Atlanta firm represents America's
Favorite Chicken, the franchisor of
Church's and Popeye's restaurants.
While the continuing consolidation of many corporations' legal business into fewer firms is not an open
invitation to small firms, it is not a
closed door, either. The opportuni-

ty is there, says Frederick Krebs, president of

the American Corporate
Counsel Association.
"Nowadays you hire
a lawyer, not a law firm,"
Krebs says. "It's the quality of the individual you
are seeking, not the number of names on the firm
directory."
In Houston, for example, Bill
Jones and his four-lawyer firm of
Cash, Jones & Springhetti represent Texas Commerce Bank and industrial valve-maker Keystone International.
Deborah Robbins, a partner
with the San Francisco-area firm of
General Counsel Associates, handles
such clients as computer- and software-manufacturer Hewlett-Packard along with the firm's 10 other
lawyers.
And in Washington, D.C., Peter Friedmann does lobbying and
legislative work for Reebok as a
solo.
"If you're with a small firm,
you tend to give a lot of attention to
a big corporation, and being able to
say you do work for that corporation can be helpful. My view is that
you tend to get pretty exceptional

service from small firms," says Jack

Douglas, senior vice president and
general counsel of Reebok. "There
is nothing inherent in a small firm
that makes it worse than a big firm;
as a matter of fact, it may be the
other way around. Generalizations
just don't work."
What solo and small-firm lawyers have found that works is a
strategy that begins with ...

Targeting clients
Jones, a partner
& Springhetti, approaches the task
of rainmaking with
Texas-style downhome simplicity.
"I happen to
hunt birds. Now,
there are places you
can go and there are
no birds in that

area, and you have to go to another

place. Then the next day, the birds
may be back in the original place. If
you are going to hunt birds, you
have to go where the birds are.
"You have to figure out, where
do these people go? How about a
seminar that's being given for inhouse counsel? Go where they go,"
says Jones, whose clients also include Southwest Bank of Texas,
Hermann Hospital in Houston, and
retailer Chief Auto Parts.
"As a small-firm lawyer, you
at Cash, Jones
have to make
sure you are
Strategy
at the fore Go where corporate lowyers go for seminars and
front of bar,
continuing education.
the commu Stay in touch with contacts; offer to answer
nity and othquestions.
ers types of
Develop a working arrangement with a large
activities, so
law firm for referral work.
that people
know you are

out there. Then, once you make contact with a general counsel or someone else at a company, once the seed
is planted, you have to follow up."
At Giancarlo & Gnazzo, a fivelawyer firm in San Francisco that
works primarily for such financial
institutions as Lehman Bros, investment house and Wells Fargo
Bank, courtesy telephone conversations with prospective clients are
part of the practice.
"One way we pursue business
is just staying in touch with people
and learning about what's important to them. Then we tell them to
call us, and as long as we can answer their questions on the phone,
we won't charge," says partner Dianne Giancarlo.
"We are in the market of selling services to people, and part of
our sales pitch is, 'Let us show you
what we know about structuring

Making the pitch

Melanie Gnazzo and Dianne Giancarlo: Shew deal-making skills.

and putting together deals.' "

Being able to show off in a
workaday setting frequently is the
way small-firm lawyers must get
attention.
While many may be on the periphery of business and social circles occupied by corporate decisionmakers, it typically is large-firm
lawyers who are already sitting on
boards of directors or leading civic
ventures.
"Because we're small, we're
simply not going to get the exposure the way the big firms get it
just from the firm name," says
Jones.
But large-firm name recognition eventually can rub off on a

small firm.
Lehman Bros., for example, indirectly uses small firms for multistate real estate closings. These
firms are hired for their local expertise by the national law firms
that handle most of its legal work,
says Michael O'Hanlon, Lehman
Bros, in-house counsel.
His advice to a small firm seeking a piece of a large client's business: Hook up with a large firm to
handle aspects of the work a small
firm might routinely perform for
small- and medium-size clients.
It is a way to get business, and,
if developed properly, can gain the
identity that leads to a direct client
relationship.

Melanie Gnazzo of Giancarlo &

Gnazzo knows how uncomfortable
it can be to approach a potential
client the first time. But she also
knows that few clients offer business without being asked.
"With a small firm, it's easier
to sell the group. You know the people, their individual talents and
their commitment level in a way
that you don't tend to at a large
firm," she says.
For a small firm, the lure has
to be the skills of the individual
lawyer. "People want to know what
they're buying into. If you want to
take control over yourself, you need
to sell yourself and not the franchise with which you happen to be
associated at the time," says partner Giancarlo.
"If I were sitting out there in a
small law firm,
I might offer
some guaranStrategy
Offer to shore some of
tees to large
the financial risk of a firstclients," suggests Reebok
time representation with
the potential client.
general coun Find out what the client
sel Douglas.
needs and have a plan to
"Say you
are charging
provide it.
'X' amount for
a job. You can
say, 'If you're
not satisfied, pay me half of X. But
if you are very satisfied, pay me
one-and-a-half X.' In other words,
put some variability into it. Don't
do it solely on price, but on the
basis of a guarantee."
Before a small-firm lawyer
takes a proposal to a potential bigbusiness client, some groundwork
needs to be done.
"I wouldn't waste time sending
paper to people you don't know,"
says Douglas. "It's really necessary
to find some other route, whether
it's speaking before groups or somehow getting to know decision-makers in a legal departmentand it's
not always the general counsel who
makes the decisions. It's working
the people side of things that is really important.
"Some time ago, one guy approached me with a telephone call
and volunteered to fly out at his
own expense because he felt he
could save us money in the communications area. Now he happened to
be with a big firm, but that doesn't
matter.
"The point is, that impressed
me and we ended up using his firm."

Long before he made'the telephone call, the lawyer had done his
homework on Reebok, discovered a
corporate need, and came up with a
solution.
Robbins of General Counsel
also seeks to provide solutions. "I
often hear from general counsel
that they're on the front lines with
a fire hose all day long, and that
they get no quiet time to focus on
this particular contractual matter
or that negotiation.
"My job is to convince them
that we'd try to handle it as they
would, that we'd be an extension of
them. I tell them that we are mature, experienced people like they
are, and that we have the quiet
time because we don't have to hold
the fire hose."
To make that type of presentation, though, a lawyer has to know
more than the law.
"In-house counsel appreciate a
lawyer who's willing to learn their
business and the part of the businessthe partsnecessary to handle the case, and then maybe even
some beyond that," says Pautsch of
Wessels & Pautsch.

that it is less expensive to use

smaller firms with localized expertise for much of its real estate work.
"We also use low-cost providers for
certain things that are very narrow. For example, when we make a
hotel loan, certain law firms have a
The work to get
A small firm in a small city great amount of expertise in that
probably could handle much of the type of loan particularly, and we'll
legal work for the largest employer work with those firms even if
or biggest retailer there. But for they're not large firms," says insmall firms seeking large, national house counsel O'Hanlon.
Just as the nature of many
clients, the biggest slice of the pie
available to them usually is a por- businesses has changed, so, too, has
the legal work necestion of a company's lesary to support it.
gal work.
For Hewlett-PackLehman Bros., for
Strategy
ard, the increase in
example, stays with
Look for clients that con use
agreements and allarge firms for its
the same skills needed for a
liances with other commainstream securities
general practice of small- and
panies for software dework because of the
medium-size clients.
velopment, distribumultitude of disci Spot patterns of developing or
tion and marketing has
plines that can come
recurring legal needs in geoprompted it to turn
into play, but often emgraphic areas and sectors of the
more frequently to outploys smaller firms for
economy.
side law firms. Using
its specialized transacsmall firms helps HP
tions. Hewlett-Packard
save money.
routinely turns to small
As long as it is less expensive
firms for collections and litigation
to go outside than to hire a staff
in isolated geographic areas.
Lehman Bros, also has found lawyer, the practice will continue,
says Susan Carnahan, Hewlett-Packard
in-house counsel.

"Read trade magazines, association newsletters, and so forth; understand some of the dynamics of
the industry that client's involved
in," he says.

What clients want

The lower cost of
a small firm may get a
large client's attention, but high performance is the only way
a small firm can get
the business.
For many smallfirm lawyers, it is a
classic chicken-andegg dilemma. They
need to have the legal experience at the
level of sophistication
the client wants, but
often they cannot get
that experience with-

Strategy
Leverage experience with a
smaller client.
Develop a practice niche.
Keep fees attractive.

Charles Pautsch: Do research to understand a client's business needs.

out having the work.

Still, there are ways
to compensate.
"What we look at
are what kinds of

transactions they^have worked on

in the past, what kinds of companies they represent," says Carnahan.
"We don't want to have to train

specialty niche that could come out

of any size firm. It just happens,
though, that a small firm thought
to deliver it.
Back when gym shoes were

that. All our clients understand

that."
While work quality has to be
first-rate, lower cost, after all, is
what frequently steers business to
a small firm in the
first place.
General Counsel
Associates, for example, handles intellectual property work for
Hewlett-Packard at a
top rate of around
$150 an hour, about
$125 less than what
the company would
pay a high-overhead
large firm.
"If there weren't
this [smaller, lowercost firms], we might
just go to bigger firms
and pay top fees, but
there are numerous
alternatives, including contract attorneys
interested in working
less than 40 hours a
week ... for $90 to
$125 an hour," says
Carnahan.

Overcoming fears
Sports coaches
call it "bench strength"
having backup players with the talent
and experience to
keep a game under
control if a star is out
Harley Lewin: His counterfeit-product data bases attract new clients.
of the lineup. Business clients call it exan outside person, even if at lower turning into athletic shoes, New perience, reputation, resources and
fees. So they have to have done York City's Lewin began working staffing. In that regard, the winner
something of the same or at least on product-counterfeiting cases. is usually the large law firm.
"When I've got something that
related. Then, quite frankly, we When the designer label was a
look at fees."
forgery, Lewin represented the I know is going to go up to top manWhile a lawyer with both maker of the real thing to protect agement, there are only two firms
large-firm and large-client experi- its rights and image.
I'll use, and they're big firms," says
ence may have an advantage, work
Over time he began building O'Hanlon of Lehman Bros.
"That's based on the relationfor a smaller client is another way computer data bases to help him
to signal an understanding of the track the law, the pleadings and ships to individuals and their relaissues.
the pirates. The result is major tionships to my senior manage"If you're a solo and have a few clients lining up to get a foot in his ment. I know that they'll feel
small-business clients, eventually door.
comfortable having these firms do
you're going to have some computer
"Let's say you need a com- the work."
matters," Carnahan says of the ex- plaint on trademark counterfeiting.
Even on relatively routine matperience Hewlett-Packard seeks.
I have 150 of them on a data base. ters, major clients frequently find
One way for a small-firm law- We've done them for every federal higher comfort levels in large firms
yer to enter the big leagues is to district and every state. There is no with the experience, resources and
identify services the firm can pro- need for us to draft a complaint staffing to keep events under control should something go wrong.
vide effectively and efficiently, and from scratch," Lewin says.
then make that presentation to a
For such clients, lower legal
"When a client comes in the
client without worrying about that door, he pays for what we do on an fees may not necessarily compenclient's size, says General Practice hourly rate. The next client pays for sate for the comfort level a big firm
chair Tanenbaum.
what we do for him, but gets the affords them. (Skeptics, though,
What that service may be is a benefit of everything we did prior to suggest it is only human nature at
52 ABA JOURNAL / JANUARY 199.5

work: If something does go wf ong, tion, the perception is that a large say, 'I hired this individual and his
the defense is that a big-name firm firm has a better chance at control- credentials do match up with the
ling the outcome through a depth of lawyers in the big firms.' "
had control.)
Another approach, says Jones,
Pautsch says he has had a few experienced lawyers and resources.
in-house counsel express concern The perception may be unshakable is for solo or small-firm lawyers to
that a small firm could not handle on high-stakes issues.
show that others have approved
"One thing that has helped is their work, even if they are not law
a matter.
"They want that sometimes a small firm can set partners.
Strategy
to know if you up a joint venturing deal so that if
"With a big-firm name behind
Demonstrate speed, low-cost
have got the they need the help, the big firm can you, you don't have to say anything
and accuracy in a test period
resources avail- go along with them and they can else. But if you're with a small firm,
with a potential client.
able. But most, try a case together," says Houston's you've got to tell them something
Provide backup resources
I think, make it Jones.
that says they can entrust their
through joint ventures with
"I am doing that now. I've been work to you. If you finished at the
a point to hire
larger law firms.
the lawyer and in trial for Texas Commerce Bank. top of your law school class, let
Use recommendations and
It's a big case, several millions of them know.
not the firm.
experiences to showcase per"Let them know things that
"If you find dollars. I'm lead counsel and a large
sonal reputation.
talented people, firm is working with me. I don't [show] other lawyers or clients have
they can be at need them all the time, but if I have put their stamp of approval on
large firms or the need for their resources, they're you," says Jones.
at very small there."
Beyond taking comfort in a
Proving experience
firms. Still, they just want to make
sure that you've got the resources large firm's resources, a potential
In the chase for large clients,
to do the work," he says.
Solo practitioner Peter Friedmann represents
clients in legislative and
regulatory matters in
Washington, B.C. If clients need help in other
fields, he recommends
other lawyers.
When a client needed work on a labor and
tax matter, he suggested
someone in a 15-lawyer
practice.
The corporate counsel, though, had an affinity toward large firms
and created a test question between the 15lawyer firm and a large
firm of his choice to settle
his dilemma.
"Within three hours
he had, spot-on, the right
answer with a half-page
memo from the small
guy," Friedmann recalls.
"The following week
he called the big firm and
was told, 'We have people
working on it; we want to
make absolutely sure we
do it right for you.' He Frederick Krebs: "Nowadays you hire a lawyer, not a law firm.'
got an answer and an 18page memo VA weeks later. It was client also can find some security in solo or small-firm lawyers who hanthe firm's collective judgment.
the same answer."
dled similar matters at large law
"If you're trying to allay that firms often can use their pasts to
The lesson: A small law firm
can be nimble and cost-effective. concern [of a potential client select- develop their futures.
ing a large firm because of its colLehman Bros, in-house counCapitalize on it.
Speed and low-cost, though, lective reputation], I'd just match sel O'Hanlon, for example, knew of
can never substitute for accuracy my credentials with some people in lawyers Giancarlo and Gnazzo
and favorable results. Even though the big firm," says Illinois-based through their previous work with
a small firm or a large one ulti- Pautsch.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
"Then the in-house counsel can Flom. Jones had been with the
mately may deliver the same solu-

large Dallas-based firm of Sapp,

Cively, Hill & LaBoon.
"In getting most of our work
with big companies we've had a
personal connection, and everyone
has strong credentialsall were
partners at firms that the companies knew perfectly well," says
General CounStrategy
sel's Robbins.
Emphasizeforge-firmex"For us, for
perience.
the most part,
Build on previous contacts.
it's a personal
Without large-firm experirelationship of
ence, emphasize professional
some kind ...
recommendations.
having come out
of big firms, so
that makes for a
nice entree."
The message in that type of
background is that a lawyer has
been tested and approved. It also
signals that there is no need for onthe-job training in the structure or
demands of a large client.
While that kind of background
can be helpful, it is not essential.
Douglas has hired outside counsel
for Reebok who always have been
in solo or small-firm practices. A
substitute for a large-firm imprimatur, he suggests, is recommendations from other lawyersparticularly general counselwho have
approved of previous work.

corporate work, not just specific

subsets of it."
The New York City firm of
Williams, Relakshy & Harris started out with four lawyers. Over the
next 25 years it attracted such
clients as Ford Motor Co., Chemical
Bank, Citibank and Bank of America National Trust Co.
"It's always a difficult decisionmaking process when to add people
to your staff. And we've tried to do
it in a very cautious way," says
partner Paul Williams Jr.
"We have always been proponents of adding people and staff as
we attracted more kinds of business. For us it came very gradually.
We were intent on reading our
client relationships and business
and growing appropriately."
When a client requires a small
firm to become even one lawyer
larger, it needs to be done as part of
a plan. "We've elected what is probably the most conservative approach," says Williams. "We got together a small group of partners
and have grown by adding attorneys who gained expertise in settings that have given them the
chance to do the kind of work they'll
do here."
Hiring too much staff, though,
can cost a small firm its advantage
in lower overhead and quick response time. More staff requires
Making the office work
more office space and equipment.
While a major local or national
The buffer: Exploit technology.
client can give a small firm credi- "Everyone can send faxes from the
bility to attract other clients of any desktop. Everyone does drafts and
size, the consistency and type of revisions on their own machines,"
work a large client demands often says New York City's Lewin.
pushes a lawyer into a different
While equipment can be a
level of professional performance. hefty fixed cost, it is an investment
To meet it, a solo or small-firm
that can put a
small firm on
may not be able to remain
quite so small.
level ground with
Strategy
The response may have to
large firms and
Have an overall plan for a
blend law-firm philosophy,
clients. "Buy the
practice.
high-end. You
staffing and technology to give
Add lawyers, as necessary,
must be able to
a client what it wantsfast rewho have experiences that
sponse and low overheadand
do what the big
con enhance a practice.
firms can do
to keep a firm diversified
Use the same type of topenough to survive without the
with their equipend technology as major
major client.
ment," Jones of
clients.
Houston says.
"Most small firms are
looking for the cow, the meal
Reading the future
ticket, a big company for which
"Just as the large firms are rethey'll have to add staff, and so
forth. But that's not our model at alizing they have to work now to
all," says Robbins. "The corner- get corporate clients, small firms
stone is getting good clients, small need to realize there is no trend toand large, because the small ones ward corporate business coming
may grow. And when that happens their way," says Krebs of the Amerit probably enhances our reputa- ican Corporate Counsel Association more, because we do all of their tion. "There are no guarantees in

any sense of the word for small

firms; there are opportunities."
That means solos and small firms
have to be able to anticipate shifts
in business expectations to take advantage of them.
"My observation is that a number of phenomena are going on in
the business community that do not
exclude the small firmor necessitate that a large firm must do the
work," says General Practice chair
Tanenbaum.
"One example is the concept of
outsourcing, where people are taking a number of services historically performed in-house and outsourcing them. Not only can you
outsource information services,
computing and the like, but you can
also outsource legal work to outside

law firms. There is rib monopoly by

large law firms on legal clients."
For many companies, using a
law firm represents a line item
in the budget
Predictions
that is open to
Changes in the overall
review.
economy that may affect
According to
how clients are willing to
Tanenbaum, "Tothink about their use of
day's business
legal services.
environment is
Unrelenting pressure on
such that people
costs.
aren't conducting business a
certain way just because it's the
way it's always been done.
"Corporations are willing to try
new things, to rethink approaches.
There's an opportunity for small
law firms to re-engineer them-

selves, to say, 'Why can't I provide

services to a large corporation?' "
To provide those services,
though, a small firm may have to
fight one trend developing in legal
services and exploit another.
"First, there's a trend toward
the brand-name firm, the firm that
people recognize and can feel comfortable with when they go into a
new country or a new city," says
Reebok's Douglas.
That trend threatens to push
small firms out of the competition.
Fortunately, however, there is a
countervailing movement.
"The other trend says that
those big firms are too expensive
because they have to support such a
huge overhead, and that maybe
there aren't economies of scale the

way there may be with other businesses, and maybe going with a
smaller firm is a good deal. Those
two trends are fighting each other,"
Douglas says.
For example, just as in a business environment in which foreign
automakers learned from domestic
automakers, and then domestic relearned from foreign, the cycle of
legal-services competition may be
equally unpredictable.
But it also may be a chance to
re-engineer how a small firm thinks
about client relationships in general. At a time when clients are looking for more personal contact with
lawyers, take the strategies that attract large clients, as Tanenbaum
suggests, and apply them to all
clients.

JOURNALINK

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With JOURNALINK you can hear directly from the experts involved in ABA Journal
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On Jan. 18, the first JOURNALINK teleprogram brings private-practice and corporate
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to expand a solo or small-firm practice with big-business clients.
Touching your telephone key pad anytime during the live program connects you to an
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The JOURNALINK companion presentation to "Small Firms, Big Clients" is available
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To register and receive a program guide, call (800) 776-0700 by Jan. 16. Cost of the
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affiliated with any CLE program.