In my last post, I discussed the good and bad news for law firms as a result of the recently released Association of Corporate Counsel’s “2006 Chief Legal Officer Survey."  After doing so, I decided to take a look at the other reasons clients fired law firms (beyond the top three mentioned in my post – cost management (or lack thereof), mishandling matters, and lack of responsiveness), according to the survey.

My thought was that, if even one client fired a firm for any of the other reasons and someone in your firm is prone to the same conduct/failing, your firm too could be at risk. So, here they are in the hopes that your firm will avoid a similar fate:

• Poor quality of work,
• Preferred counsel at the firm no longer available,
• Firm could not provide needed expertise,
• Firm could not provide service in necessary jurisdictions,
• Lack of diversity within firm, and
• Other (Disagreement on or lack of strategy, consolidation of firms, personality conflicts, improper billing).

It is a good idea to look at all the reasons in-house counsel fire law firms, assess where your firm might stand on any of them, and take corrective action as soon as possible.

Next Time: More on the Good News