The E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Legal Department has been a global leader over the last decade in progressively redefining the traditional relationship between the corporate legal department and its outside counsel. With its new 70-page publication of Leaps & Bounds: Moving Ahead With the DuPont Legal Model (2001), DuPont has firmly established itself as the leader of a movement that may very well shape the way legal services are delivered to large and small corporations in the 21st Century as evidenced by the fact that more than 130 companies have visited DuPont Legal since this Model was first published. This publication demonstrates both that the Legal Model has stood the test of time by producing results in terms of efficiency and substantial cost savings and that it serves as a flexible framework for building a better business environment for future growth. With the 2001 revised program, DuPont Legal has continued the evolution of its Legal Model by building on the Model's strengths and making changes based on lessons learned from operating experience.
The revised and updated Legal Model was produced under the stewardship of Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and General Counsel Stacey Mobley, the third General Counsel to serve since adoption of the Model, and who rose through the ranks since joining DuPont Legal in 1972. Mr. Mobley is both a strong believer in efficiency and in having DuPont's lawyers and its outside counsel become intimately aware of the company's core business and its values. Mr. Mobley is also well-known as a proponent of strengthening the legal profession by recruiting and retaining legal professionals from a broad diversity of backgrounds. Diversity is a core element of the Legal Model and DuPont has proven, once again, that inclusion and diversity are smart business.
The 2001 Legal Model was revised by DuPont Vice President and Assistant General Counsel Thomas L. Sager, who has infused the new Legal Model with the Six Sigma management theory of which he is a vigorous proponent, along with Corporate Counsel and law firm partner manager James D. Shomper, who joined DuPont Legal from an outside law firm in 1990.
The DuPont Legal Model has been widely recognized since it was first established in 1992 as a cutting-edge and innovative approach to meet the challenges of a complex, rapidly changing, and theretofore costly legal environment. More than 60 articles about the DuPont Legal Model have been published to date. The original Model represented a bold restructuring of the relationship between DuPont Legal and its outside law firms designed to transform the relationship into a virtual law firm through partnering and technology. The Model was motivated historically by a company-wide challenge in 1992 to increase shareholder value through enhanced performance of all operating units, including the legal department, which, in 1993, incurred $ 87 million in outside legal counsel fees, the highest ever for DuPont.
The starting point of the Legal Model was a three and one-half year convergence process that reduced from 350 to 35 the number of law firms with which DuPont Legal did business. Although conceived as a cost-cutting approach, the DuPont strategy evolved into true strategic, long-term partnering relationships with its outside law firms by which DuPont and its law firms have become committed to each other's long-term financial successes. DuPont's new Primary Law Firms were selected based on their commitment to six factors: (1) competence, excellence and getting results, (2) mutual financial success, (3) technology and work process reengineering, (4) the retention and contribution of women and minorities, (5) taking risks and advancing creativity, and (6) a willingness to be innovative.
In general, the DuPont Legal Model has taken law firms beyond the pure practice of law to the delivery of services that impact the client's bottom line. This involves a change in focus from discrete legal issues to a fuller appreciation of the many factors that bear on problems as seen through the client's eyes with a premium on collaboration and teamwork. The benefits to outside counsel have been myriad and tangible. They include faster payment of bills, greater client interaction, and a competitive advantage over their peers by virtue of the skills obtained by working in an innovative corporate law program.
At its core, the DuPont Legal Model is an integrated framework subject to continual improvements and refinements that brings sharp focus to a coordinated and ongoing effort to deliver legal services more efficiently. The core elements of the DuPont Legal Model were established early on in the program and may be familiar: (1) strategic partnering, (2) early case assessment; (3) use of technology, (4) alternative fee arrangements, and (5) strategic budgeting.These core elements are complemented by a strong commitment to diversity and to measuring achievement.
DuPont is a leader in its focus on diversity, and has established networks of minority and women attorneys as well as innovative diversity programs. For instance, DuPont Legal and its Primary Law Firms have collaborated on minority job fairs. The DuPont Legal Model values people of all backgrounds, regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, disabilities, sexual orientation, religious affiliations and approach, and has proven that diversity is good business. This has led to a competitive advantage to DuPont Legal and its Primary Law Firmsparticularly because retention, as much as recruitment, is a key issue in achieving a culturally diverse legal workforce.
The DuPont Legal Model goes beyond theory because of its comprehensive metrics program designed to drive continuous improvement. The performance metrics measure traditional means such as costs, payouts and recoveries, as well as efficiency metrics such as staffing, cycle time and technology, in addition to peer-to-peer metrics involving the identification of best practices. An annual Benchmark Survey is sent to Primary Law Firms and measures and captures best practices.
Almost ten years of practice has proven that the DuPont Legal Model has produced significant and unprecedented results. Cost savings are in the range of $ 8 million to $ 12 million per year. The cycle time (from filing to resolution) of litigation has dropped from 39 to 22 months. Purchasing power has been leveraged effectively and legal staffing requirements can now be forecast more accurately. More women and minorities have been employed at the outside law firms retained by DuPont, and legal work is performed by those at the most appropriate levels of professional responsibility. As of 1999, the number of matters on DuPont's legal docket was down nearly 70% from the peak year. True partnering with outside law firms has been achieved.
In order to remain in the forefront of the changing legal environment, the 2001 DuPont Legal Model incorporates new, revised and modified strategies and initiatives, including:
Improving Productivity Through Six Sigma: Originally developed in 1986, and today adopted by many major international corporations, Six Sigma methodology provides the tools to help design, correct or optimize operations through problem-solving techniques. At its core, Six Sigma is a project-oriented, customer-focused, disciplined approach to management and operations that is statistically driven to increase efficiency. DuPont Legal believes its outside law firms will play a central role in the successful implementation of the Six Sigma Program.
Improving Proactive & Preventive Legal Care: DuPont's Proactive & Preventive Legal Care program was created in 1998 to help provide a competitive edge for DuPont by capitalizing on changes in the law, anticipating and minimizing future legal risks, and identifying best practices for managing current liabilities. Once again, at its core, this program asks DuPont Legal and its Primary Law Firms to work together to contribute to the client's bottom line through creative business solutions. DuPont believes the more lawyers know about their client's business, the better they can spot future legal issues that will bring value to the client.
Developing Legal Practice Groups: The continuing evolution of DuPont's Legal Model includes establishment of legal practice groups that are subject-matter networks organized to work collaboratively by sharing resources, information, work product and best practices. Through the practice groups, DuPont expects to achieve greater efficiency and improved results through greater use of technology to collaborate, capture historical perspectives, and eliminate redundancies.
Applying the Model to Patent and Trademark Law Firms: The DuPont Legal Model was originally conceived as a litigation-driven program. As it has evolved, DuPont Legal has sought to apply it to its outside international intellectual property law firms. For example, DuPont has selected law firms that can do both patent and trademark work and has hired no more than one primary firm per country. The program has improved efficiencies and teamwork, and DuPont will continue to modify the intellectual property program based on the proven successes of the DuPont Legal Model.
DuPont's new and revised 70-page Model addresses critical issues with respect to law firm relationships that will be of benefit to law departments large and small. The fundamental elements of the DuPont Model -- law firm partnering, discipline and proactivity, etc. -- can be applied to any company, regardless of its size, which is interested in increased efficiency and results in its relationships with law firms.
The 2001 DuPont Legal Model marks an evolution of its 8 year-old legal framework based on results achieved and lessons learned. DuPont Legal has achieved positive results through implementation of the Legal Model but continues to seek greater excellence in its outside law firm partnerships through the evolution of the 2001 Legal Model. DuPont has developed a revised Model that will continue to revolutionize the practices of large and small companies, and to shape the delivery of legal services by law firms. The DuPont Model will no doubt continue to serve as an example and to be embraced by corporate law departments as they are charged to reinvent themselves in a more competitive business environment. Companies throughout the country, both large and small, can continue to learn from what has worked well for one of America's largest and most successful companies.
Copies of Leaps & Bounds may be purchased from Crosby Marketing Communications (telephone (410) 626-0805) for $ 39 plus shipping and handling per copy. This book is a must buy for Corporate Legal Departments and Law Firms.