In-House Counsel, Outside Help

Firms also look for outside attorneys based near a trial’s location. Lawyers need a license to appear in court for each state in which they perform courtroom work—a license that’s in addition to their bar membership. It’s probably easier to find such a lawyer in the trial city.

A local lawyer is also probably conversant with local legal customs. “In some places, the clerk of the court wants you to file everything with an official motion, and in other places the clerk will let you pick up the phone and ask,” Tourek says. “In some courts, most motions are handled on paper, and on others you’re allowed to have oral arguments. The simple truth is that no two states administrate their judicial systems the same way. It’s invaluable to know those local customs and courtesies.”

That knowledge helps win court cases—and negotiate settlements. “If 95 percent of civil litigation is settled, having local counsel who is known by and knows opposing counsel facilitates negotiating an informal resolution to a dispute,” Tourek says.

At Supervalu, Hughes and her staff might collaborate with outside firms by managing parts of the litigation preparation, identifying witnesses, gathering documents, and managing the electronic discovery process. “We identify the key players and put a hold on their electronic documents,” Hughes says.

At 3M, “I will sometimes work with outside lawyers on a brief—I might make suggestions or ask questions,” Hanrahan says. “I’m the eyes of the client, and I can assess whether I think it’s a work product that fairly and accurately depicts our position.”

Outside lawyers serve as experts in all manner of legal niches. Claire Topp, a partner at  Dorsey & Whitney, LLP, a law firm based in Minneapolis, finds that much of her business is generated by the physician’s self-referral law, which puts limits on doctors’ ability to refer patients to entities in which the referring physician has a financial interest. “The penalties are draconian, and there are a zillion exceptions and nuances, and you have to get it right,” she says. “We call it ‘the lawyer full-time employment act.’ You really want someone who does a lot of work with it.”

Companies also bring in outsiders when confronted with a “particularly vexing problem,” Lund says—an issue they haven’t encountered before or an area where the law is in flux. “If it is something where the law is constantly changing, then we’ll outsource it,” says Sandra Wiese, vice president of government affairs and law at Data Recognition Corporation, a Maple Grove firm that provides large-scale assessments and surveys.