To us, the hourly model just feels almost a little adversarial. In-house lawyers are reviewing bills and are asking their outside counsel: ‘Well, why were there five people at this meeting? Why did you use a junior partner here instead of an associate?’ To me, that’s always felt almost disrespectful to the firms…. I want them to have the freedom to manage the cases the way they want to, consistent with providing excellent work to us.
— William Petersen, senior vice president and deputy general counsel Verizon Communications, speaking frankly to Law.com about some of the challenges of working with outside counsel.