How to get the best out of collaboration between in-house counsels and law firms

By Pallav Shukla (Partner) and Pratibha Sharma (Senior Executive)

The business and regulatory environment in India is becoming increasingly complex. In the face of such developments, in-house legal teams are actively onboarding law firms to handle critical legal procedures. In a survey commissioned and published by Wolters Kluwer, “93% of corporate compliance departments have outsourced work in the past three years”.

Given the environment in which legal and compliance market is booming, the nature of this cooperation between general counsel (GCs) and law firms has also experienced a pragmatic shift. Both entities are collaborating more frequently on tactical and strategic issues, as opposed to the trend in India when interactions were limited to litigation or complex merger and acquisition deals.

How law firms enable in-house counsels

Several factors induce corporate legal departments to onboard law firms. They enable in-house counsel to lower overhead costs by hiring highly specialised on-demand skilled external attorneys without compromising quality.

Secondly, law firms allow GCs to enhance operational efficiency with respect to shifting market conditions and seasonal demand, enabling even smaller firms to take on large cases.

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