Just Another Roll Of The Dice

David Cambria gambles big at Baker McKenzie.

When I met David Cambria back in 2007, we hit it off immediately. Not only did I like him very much, but I was thrilled to find an expert who would talk to me about the ins and outs of legal operations. For David’s part, I think he was happy to find someone — anyone — who cared about his role and was interested in helping others see the value it can deliver.

It may have been at that very first lunch that we agreed to collaborate on the first Survey of Law Department Operations. Since then, we’ve put out 10 more, spoken on the same panel maybe a dozen times, thought about starting a business together, and almost got in a fight with some guy who couldn’t find the mosh pit at a Frank Turner show. (Hint: It’s right in front of the stage.)

Still, I was a bit shocked when he called me up last month and told me he was moving to Baker McKenzie.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. David’s been telling me for a year that law firms are finally ready for the type of changes he’s been working towards and advocating for in-house. That if law departments are changing the way they are buying, then law firms must change the way they are delivering. I just never thought he’d jump. “Law firms are where corporate law departments were 10-15 years ago,” he says. “So to have the opportunity to shape and drive that change was appealing.”

I see his point. David has spent the better part of his career helping law departments align with their business units. “Legal operations is a set of disciplines that facilitate the delivery of legal advice,” he says. So if law departments can develop the discipline to better serve their clients, why can’t a law firm develop the discipline to serve theirs?

One reason is that they are not really incentivized to. According to the 2017 Law Department Operations Survey, published in cooperation with Consilio, less than a third of respondents describe their law firms as innovative, but few are holding their feet to the fire.

It’s easy to forget that a decade ago, law departments were not incentivized to either. A general counsel could usually get the finance team to stand down just by saying “but legal is different” or “it’s too risky.” Eventually, the finance and business units — spurred on by the Great Recession — got fed up and law departments were forced to react and that reaction required the skill set of the LDO professional.

Sponsored

Maybe we are, in fact, at the point where law firms will start to feel the need to leverage process improvements and technology implementations and new pricing models. “I’ve worked with a lot of law firms, and there are pockets — specific attorneys or practice areas — that really get it. But so far it hasn’t been scalable. We need to change the DNA of the law firm and that’s what I’m trying to do here at Baker.”

David Cambria

The gamble, of course, is whether he can make it work. Baker McKenzie is almost 70 years old and has almost 5,000 lawyers. It’s not exactly a nimble startup. And unlike at a law department, firms are not managed hierarchically. It might be difficult for in-house counsel to go against the express wishes of the general counsel (and their hand-picked LDO). Law firm partners do it all the time. So will it work?

“I’ve been asking myself that question a lot. But my discussions with Baker happened over a long period of time and they showed themselves to be willing to really embrace legal ops. They already have a service center in Belfast for more routine work and a growing legal project management function that’s gaining traction with clients. There had already been a lot of innovation and they had already implemented a lot of new different technology. And last year, they elected a managing partner in North America who ran on a platform of building out the firm’s professional services to enable the firm to do more than just deliver legal advice. I feel really optimistic because the indicators are in place.”

A dozen years ago, David and I sat in a hotel restaurant and he said the same thing about law department operations. Can he roll another 7 or 11? I wouldn’t bet against it.

Sponsored


Brad Blickstein is principal of the Blickstein Group, a consultancy helping businesses serve corporate law departments and law firms. He also is publisher of the Annual Law Department Operations Survey, which for 10 years has provided the most comprehensive data and analysis on the Legal Ops function.