At their lawyers' request, six senior in-house counsel from six large U.S. and internationally-based companies converged on South Jersey recently, to participate in an open panel discussion about their legal needs. The unique forum was hosted by law firm Flaster Greenberg P. C., which represents all six companies, at its Cherry Hill, New Jersey Conference Center. The audience also included additional clients, as well as nearly all 75 of the firm's attorneys.
"Our goal is to better understand our clients' needs," said Managing Shareholder Peter R. Spirgel, "and we wanted to demonstrate to our clients our willingness to work with them. We want feedback on how we can do a better, more efficient job for them."
Flaster Greenberg's program was inspired by an initiative launched by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), called the ACC "Value Challenge." The Value Challenge is designed to encourage in-house counsel to meet with the law firms they use to discuss how the provision of legal services can be improved and ways to reduce legal costs. Flaster Greenberg took the ACC Value Challenge a step further through their willingness to ask the hard questions and share potentially uncomfortable answers openly--a concept that Spirgel acknowledges is unusual. "We decided to be proactive, and judging from the response, our clients appreciate the fact that we opened up the dialogue."
Companies represented at the "Power Roundtable" include:
- Greene, Tweed & Co., Inc.
- Toll Brothers, Inc.
- PAETEC Communications, Inc.
- John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.
- Deb Shops, Inc.
- Incisive Media, LLC
