I noticed that in their current “Question of the Week,” the ABA Journal is asking who is better equipped to promote change, law firms or their clients.
I won’t attempt to answer that. But I’ll note that although most of the chatter on change in the legal profession seems to assume that clients will be dragging law firms into the twenty-first century, my own sense is that when it comes to the quality of their templates and the efficiency of their contract process, company law departments face real inertia challenges of their own. And that’s the case regardless of a company’s reputation or its resources.
I won’t go into detail, as it would be hard for me to do so without sounding insufferable. (I touch on some of the issues in my article “Retooling Your Contract Process for the Downturn.” Click here to go to a pdf copy.) But I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
