Practice Management

Secondments: A Sound Law Firm Tactic

By Tom Collins

The terms ?secondment? and ?secondees? aren?t used much in the U.S.  Nor is the tactic (by whatever name) used often by midrange law firms.  Secondees are usually young associates who for an intermediate term (several months to a year) are given over to clients as temporary additions to their in-house legal team.  Internationally the practice is more common, especially in the U.K.  It has expanded beyond secondment assignment just for young associations to include senior members of the law firm.  

There are good reasons for the strategy.  First and foremost is the relationship building aspect between the law firm and the client.  Because secondees are usually provided at a bargain price, the client views the arrangement as the law firm making an investment in them.  For midrange firms, a secondment strategy lowers the risk of adding to its legal team. Adding new associates is an expensive undertaking. The cost comes right out of partner profits and many experts believe that it takes as long as three years before the cash flow from the additional associate becomes positive.  The smaller the firm, the greater the relative impact on existing law firm partners.  Having an ongoing secondment program can help finance those additions. 

The relationship with insiders that secondees develop during their tenure with the client will surely prove to be valuable in terms of retention and expansion of the business relationship between the client and the law firm.  And the law firm builds a team with a far greater awareness of service quality concerns of all clients. 

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Full post as published by More Partner Income on December 04, 2007 (boomark / email).