Great article from my good friends, Jim Michalowicz and Gardner Courson, on the application of Analytics to improve decision-making to deliver desired litigation outcomes.

1. Analytics
for Selecting Your
Dream Team
By Thomas L. Sager, James L. Michalowicz and Gardner G. Courson
30-Second Summary Litametrics is the application of analytics to improve decision-making to deliver desired litigation
outcomes. They can be used to rank cases and calculate success probabilities using formulas that include such factors as
jurisdiction, judge, plaintiff counsel and claim type. Using Litametrics ensures that all of that intelligence and intellectual
capital is focused on the right cases, the right evidence and the right jury. Litametrics can also help counsel move towards
financial management goals by providing a foundation for value-based budgeting and fee models.

2. Sports
teams, political poll-
s t e r s , m ajor c or p or at ion s
and research institutions have turned
to sophisticated analysis of so-called
“Big Data.” Why? Patterns exist in large
data repositories in many areas of commerce
and science that can assist users in making
better decisions. ¶ Understanding the trends
and consequences of data associated with legal
spend can empower litigation counsel to make
better and more informed decisions on staffing
of a case, budgeting and fee management,
valuation of cases, likely outcomes and how
to develop strategy to effectuate winning
litigation results. Introducing the
“Moneyba l l ” equ iva lent to
litigation management —
“Litametrics.™”
ACC DOCKET May 2013 69

3. Litametrics: Analytics for Selecting Your Dream Team
the chief litigation counsel starts making
Analytics tools and resources notes: AmLaw 20 firm, good record
at trials, offers 10-percent discount off
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective
hourly rates, trial team graduated from
evidence, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity.
top-tier law schools, some of the com-
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a book
pany’s lawyers worked at the firm, etc.
about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its GM Billy Beane. Now, let’s shift to another scene. An
Its focus is the team’s analytical, evidence-based, Sabermetric NFL general manager or scout is pre-
approach to assembling a competitive baseball team. paring for the upcoming college foot-
ball draft. The general manager needs
Football Outsiders is a website founded by Aaron Schatz. to identify talent that will shore up the
The site aims to bring objective analysis to football that matches team’s defensive line. Looking at the
the revolution in baseball writing and analysis over the past 20 scouting reports, the GM highlights
years. “We have new methods for analyzing skill players, offensive players who competed in elite confer-
and defensive lines, special teams and total team efficiency.” ences and performed on teams that
went on to win several bowl games and
FiveThirtyEight is a polling aggregation website with a blog created
ranked high on the ESPN final season
by Nate Silver. During the 2008 and 2012 US Presidential elections, the
site compiled polling data through a unique methodology derived from rankings. Physical factors have to be
Silver’s experience in baseball Sabermetrics to “balance out the polls with considered, such as body size, speed,
comparative demographic data” and “weighting each poll based on the agility and strength. Interviews with
pollster’s historical track record, sample size and recentness of the poll.” The the college coaches may give a better
result was amazing accuracy in predicting presidential election outcomes. sense about whether the player would
fit into the culture and team environ-
Big Data are high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-variety information assets ment. If we draft this player, how much
that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, will it cost to sign him?
insight discovery and process optimization as defined by Gartner, Inc.
“Outside trial counsel often consider their
legal services to be more of an art, and
Litametrics is the application of and developing strategies to deliver de- this leads many of them to resist focus on
analytics to improve decision-making in sired outcomes (predicting outcomes). efficiency. Today’s best companies, however,
any or all of the following areas: selec- Think of the general counsel or chief reward all team members in the organization
tion of litigation counsel (assembling litigation counsel who is evaluating based on contribution levels, and efficiency
a competitive team), measurement of responses to an RFP from law firms that in execution is a key variable in creating
productivity and performance (in-game are hoping to handle the company’s new- value for the enterprise.”
activity, total team efficiency), manage- est large mass tort case. While reviewing – ilvio J. DeCarli, associate general counsel
S
ment of spending (budget, salary cap) the professionally prepared documents, and chief litigation counsel, DuPont
Be it on the football field or litiga-
Thomas L. Sager has been senior vice president and general counsel of tion battlefield, the traditional process
DuPont Legal since 2008. for the evaluation of talent and projec-
tion of performance uses much more
art than science. When assembling a
football team or litigation team, the
James L. Michalowicz is president of Michalowicz Consulting LLC. desired result is to have a winning re-
jim@michalowiczllc.com; www.michalowivzllc.com cord, but that cannot necessarily come
at any cost. NFL teams are bound to a
set yearly salary cap, and throughout
Gardner G. Courson is a partner in the Litigation Dispute Resolution practice the season, each team must be at or
group of the Taylor English Duma law firm. He is the former deputy general counsel under said cap. For law departments,
for Litigation of Tyco International, and the former VP and general counsel of Tyco the analogy is a litigation budget.
Fire Security. gcourson@taylorenglish.com Going over the cap or budget comes
with severe penalties; these are clearly
70 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

4. defined in the NFL and are more Litametrics does have a place in categorized by areas of law, type of
subjective in the corporate world. In litigation management, and there is al- litigation and geography. There may
either case, there is pressure to make ready some evidence of success stories. be some grouping of cases based on
smart spending decisions. It is important for in-house counsel to size of case, tier levels and signifi-
The use of analytics is not completely know how to: cance to the company’s public image.
foreign to litigation management. ■■
assemble a litigation team; Litametrics can be used to drill
Those who have dipped their toes and ■■
offer sound financial management down further to rank cases by expo-
fingers in ediscovery know a bit about by becoming a smart spender — sure level, complexity and “value”
applying analytics to perform searches paying for performance; of case. Success probabilities can
for documents, or ESI to determine ■■
predict outcomes and develop be calculated using formulas that
evidentiary value. Analytics can help strategy to achieve those include such factors as jurisdiction,
identify themes, high-impact docu- outcomes; and judge, plaintiff counsel and claim
ments and the chronology of events ■■
acquire talent to fill new positions type. For repetitive areas, such as
in a more systematic way. Not only in the front office. employment and product liability
can analytics improve both the quality litigation, data history is available,
and cycle time in making document Know your turf first which can be used to profile matters
review decisions, but they can also alert Before assembling a team of players and assign a price or value (i.e., how
the litigation team to issues that may to take the field, Litametrics can be much it will or should be to litigate a
impact case strategy. The scary, “Oh applied to better understand the type given matter).
no, the computers are replacing the of team that is needed. Most chief When DuPont Legal embarked on
lawyers” changes to, “Big data is helping litigation counsel have a sense of creating a new model for managing
lawyers make more informed decisions; what makes up their litigation docket litigation, one of the first steps was to
smarter decisions lead to better results.” or portfolio of cases. Matters are perform a needs assessment. The total
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5. Litametrics: Analytics for Selecting Your Dream Team
litigation portfolio was divided into their particular docket. The fear is that Moving to a value-based
four groups based on levels of impact. any case could go bad and expose both budgeting and fee model
“Brain surgery,” the inside counsel and the company.
requires some trust and
■■
■■
Specialty litigation, Unfortunately, there is another conse-
■■
Product liability/personal injury, quence from this type of behavior —
transparency between
and spending more than what the value of inside and outside counsel.
■■
Commodities. the portfolio warrants; in other words, Litametrics can offer a
treating every case as a “bet the com- foundation where both
The conclusion was that the greater pany” case. The analogy can be made
parties are working from the
percentage of the litigation portfolio to professional football teams that
resided in levels three and four, and for overspend on high-priced, big-name
same data models and move
these cases, simple, efficient legal ser- free agent players. Spending money for closer to alignment on the
vices were required. High-impact cases a team of all high-priced talent does financial management goals.
required higher-impact firms, and not necessarily translate to wins on the
firms without the high price tag could playing field or in the courtroom.
handle low-impact cases effectively.
In an analysis performed in 2012 Financial management: The chart on page 74 provides
using Counsel Management Group’s Controlling the spend insight into how law departments
AFADATA proprietary system, Starting in 1994, the National Football are exerting their energies to control
DuPont was offered insight into the League set up a salary-cap system, costs and assure that money is being
costs associated with engaging various whereby each team is limited to how spent wisely.
types of firms. A further deep dive into much money can be spent on players’ Although it is not completely clear
the analysis would show whether the salaries in a given year. The first salary from looking at this chart, there is
level of spend based on impact level cap was set at $34.6 million per team. enough information in the market
of the firm was in line with the “value” In 2012, the salary cap was $120.6 mil- from similar surveys that show
or “impact level” of the cases where lion. There are provisions for building “price reductions” typically mean
outside counsel was assigned. into the cap number player perfor- hourly rate or volume discounts.
In 2000, the Patriots drafted a rela- mance bonuses that are negotiated Why is this important?
tively unknown quarterback named between the player and team. These In an article titled “Points of Law:
Tom Brady in the sixth round. He was incentive bonuses are treated as “likely Unbundling Corporate Legal Services
the 199th player selected overall. The to be earned” and thus calculated into to Unlock Value” (Harvard Business
Patriots’ roster in 2012 featured 18 the team’s salary cap figure. The NFL’s Review, July/August 2012), the
players who weren’t drafted by the NFL league office approves all contracts so, authors warn, “With excess capacity,
when they left college. While all teams presumably, no individual team should technology and new capacity all shift-
have access to a wealth of data on these go over the cap. In those instances that ing power to corporations, it is not
players, the Patriots have the ability to a team does go over the cap, the forfei- surprising that many of them have
look at that data in a unique way, and ture of draft picks or severe financial renegotiated terms with their firms.
fit it into their overall system. They penalties are levied. In most cases, the firms’ concessions
understand the processes that drive The comparison of the NFL sal- have come in the form of discounted
success for their organization, and ary cap system to a law department’s rates, which by their nature are lim-
have been able to quantify and evaluate budget is not a perfect match. One of ited and unsustainable.”
the available resources that will most the reasons for the NFL salary cap is to In his book “Declining Prospects,”
positively impact those processes.1 provide an even playing field for teams Michael Trotter, partner at the Atlanta-
A common mistake made by law to compete in the league. The teams based firm Taylor English, dives into
departments is following the “always with the greatest resources to spend the detail of law-firm economics and
assign the best lawyers to my cases” cannot buy a championship. Having the Profits Per Partner model. Trotter
selection method. This often translates said this, once again, let’s be reminded specifies four ways that a firm can
into hiring the most expensive lawyers that spending the most does not increase its Profits Per Partner (PPP):
or law firm for any given matter. Doing guarantee winning results. But beyond 1. Charge clients more by increasing
so makes sense to the degree that inside this, there is an essential element that hourly rates or increasing
litigation counsel want the best protec- resonates with general counsel: Spend payments through alternative fee
tion in defending complex cases on the company’s money wisely. arrangements.
72 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

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7. Litametrics: Analytics for Selecting Your Dream Team
2. Do more work by working more principles DuPont Legal adopted in Costs) that is defined as a “win.” This
hours or using more lawyers. implementing value-based billing are: type of arrangement is the total “pay for
3. Acquire new clients. • The company wants to pay for performance” model in that it rewards
4. Reduce overhead. results, not time; firms for efficiency and effectiveness.
The conflict arises when PPP of the • The focus is on how well services The VBF with TLC brings value beyond
law firm is under threat through such are provided, not how long it the fixed fees-only arrangements, which
efforts by inside counsel to negotiate takes to provide them; are only able to offer some predictabil-
discounted hourly rates. Logically, • The key expectations of both ity on outside counsel spending.
to maintain a strong PPP, the firm DuPont Legal and the outside It is important to keep in mind
increases the number of billable hours. firm are clearly stated and that, just as the NFL captures incen-
Given that outside counsel are typically addressed early in the negotiation tive bonuses in calculating the salary
the originator and formulator of the process; and cap, the law department needs to ac-
litigation budget, and consideration • The staffing and work processes are count for likely bonus payouts in the
is weighed heavily on the PPP law identified and adapted to working annual budget.
firm economic model, why are we not in a value-based billing model. As part of its Value Challenge
surprised to see survey results such as program, in the fall of 2012, the
those listed on page 76 from Fulbright Moving to a value-based budget- Association of Corporate Counsel
Jaworski’s 8th Annual Litigation ing and fee model requires some trust (ACC) launched the “Value Based Fee
Trends Survey? and transparency between inside and and Budget Project” and offered this
outside counsel. Litametrics can offer solution as part of a benchmarking
Litametrics provides a different a foundation where both parties are pilot program to large member com-
Profits Per Partner (PPP) model working from the same data models and panies seeking to rise on the financial
“The billable hour incentivizes inefficiency move closer to alignment on the finan- progression chart. The beauty of this
because lawyers get paid based on how cial management goals. When looking effort is that participants receive value-
much time they spend on a matter.” at the chart on page 76, it would be fair based productivity tools and support
– oshua Frank, general counsel secretary,
J to say that most inside counsel/outside services, but also benchmarking data
DHL Americas2 counsel are working between financial from those who share the goals of
management levels three and six. value-based financial management.
What if PPP were redefined as Pro- The ultra-model, Value Based Fees DuPont Legal is serving as the anchor
ductivity Per Professional? (VBF) with TLC, designates those ar- member for this innovative project.
What would be the core questions rangements where the fee is based on
asked of inside counsel in moving value provided in terms of service, but Predicting outcomes and developing
toward the creation of this new metric? an incentive bonus is also offered to the strategy to achieve those outcomes
■■
What are we buying? (Not hours!) firm for delivering a Total Litigation Brian Burke, former Navy Pilot and
■■
What should the pieces cost? Cost result (Defense + Resolution Sabermetrics devotee, developed
■■
What factors determine value?
Staffing/Seniority How legal departments are controlling costs
x
Efficiency/Hours
x
Hourly Rates/Fees
Making use of The Counsel Man-
agement Group’s proprietary litigation
budget templates, DuPont Legal has
introduced “productivity” and “value”
into financial and budget discussions
Source: Altman Weil, Inc.
with outside counsel. The four key
74 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

8. a statistical model named “Win naysayers were dismissive of Silver and What can we conclude from the
Probability.” Burke’s model was built had a greater confidence in their own Goodman-Delahunty study? Attorneys
collecting data from over 3,000 NFL data or perception of how the election tend to be overconfident about their
games. Win Probability produces results would turn out. chances of success early in a lawsuit, and
odds of a team winning a game based In a study published by Goodman- that overconfidence can seriously skew
on decisions made by a team to on- Delahunty, J., et al., titled “Insightful their evaluation of a case. Furthermore,
field situations. According to Burke, or Wishful: Lawyers’ Ability to Predict take the wrong case, and the client’s
most teams suffer from a “subop- Case Outcomes” (16 Psychology, resources may be squandered; or, take
timum equilibrium, with no teams Public Policy, and Law 133 2010), the the right case but build an argument
playing the optimum way.” The analyt- researchers interviewed almost 500 that won’t fly with a jury. The result is
ics showed that teams didn’t pass lawyers, asking them to predict the the same: less-than-optimal settlements,
the ball enough and ran the ball too outcome of some of their pending outright losing, and a dissatisfied and
much, and they were far too passive cases, and then compared their predic- perhaps underserved client.
on fourth downs, settling too often for tions to the actual results. Forty-four The ability to realistically evaluate a
field goals and punts.3 percent of the lawyers interviewed case, then efficiently litigate it, or try the
Nate Silver won great acclaim after experienced worse outcomes than they case to a finder of fact, has given rise
successfully predicting the results for predicted. Experienced attorneys were to a new breed of products and tools.
each state in the 2012 US Presidential no more accurate than their novice What they have in common is that they
Election. Silver demonstrated on his counterparts. Indeed, the study’s significantly reduce the guesswork in as-
538 Blog how an analytics model authors noted, “Many of the most over- sessment, and free attorneys to do what
based on multiple third-party poll- confident lawyers will be the senior they do best — advocate, strategize,
ing data led to a 91-percent certainty partners who may not typically obtain litigate and win. More important, using
that President Barack Obama would third-party review or feedback in the this adaptation of Litametrics ensures
be reelected to a second term. Some course of their practice.” that all that intelligence and intellectual
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9. Litametrics: Analytics for Selecting Your Dream Team
Fulbright Jaworski’s 8th Annual Litigation Trends Survey a lawsuit within a few months after
notice of the suit is received.
With a business imperative in many
companies to keep cases from going
through a lengthy and expensive litiga-
tion process, the early application of
intelligent and cost-effective informa-
tion gathering can lead to reduced
costs, faster closure and increased
client satisfaction.
Quantifying value and increas-
ing the probabilities of winning has
been instrumental in the rollout of
DuPont’s Global Recoveries Initiative.
Started in 2004, the key objectives of
the Recoveries Initiative are to assert
the legal rights of DuPont through the
capital is focused on the right cases, the 78). Seasoned litigation consultants intervention of its legal team, to recoup
right evidence and the right jury. facilitate discussion among the cash or other quantifiable rights owed
Gardner Courson, a litigation outside and inside counsel to identify to DuPont, to educate and inform
partner with the Atlanta-based firm the determinative legal and factual DuPont businesses about potential
Taylor English, and the managing issues and place each of the issues recoveries and to develop resources to
director of Precision Litigation LLC, into an “if/then” hierarchy. The trial facilitate future recoveries.
a litigation consulting firm, has been team assigns a probability of winning The Recoveries Initiative is not
instrumental in the development of and losing each issue on the decision a litigation program, although, in
an analytics-based tool called PreView tree. Combining all of the probabili- some cases, recoveries do result from
Profile, which is based on a data-driv- ties with the range of possible jury litigation. Business analytics play an
en litigation assessment. For Courson, verdicts enables the attorneys and the important role in the success of this
the magic potion is “turning lawyer client to determine a value range for program, but given that the program
intuition into data.” the case. In short, the business intel- is not litigation focused, the proper
PreView Profile builds on the ligence process uses real evidence, identifying term may be better coined
concepts of expert business pro- experienced attorneys and skilled Legametrics — application of analyt-
cesses and technology. Applying the facilitators to analyze the dynamics, ics to legal management — compared
trial counsel’s selection of key search risks, costs and potential outcome of to Litametrics.
terms, the process statistically samples
a large set of the pertinent documents
to cull out those documents that are
likely to be most critical in defend- Financial Management Progression Chart
ing or prosecuting the case. Up to
20 of those documents or summary
exhibits are combined with the mock
video testimony of up to five key wit-
nesses per side. Along with 30-minute
“opening/closing” lawyer arguments
for each side, the edited and com-
pressed review of the evidence is then
presented remotely to jury-eligible
citizens of the appropriate venire for
live mock deliberations.
The heart of the success-
ful PreView Profile model is its
decision-tree analysis (see page
76 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

11. Litametrics: Analytics for Selecting Your Dream Team
Results from DuPont’s Global PreView ProfileTM
Recoveries Initiative
The recoveries program relies heavily
on the participation of a multidisci-
plinary team with the president of
the DuPont business unit serving
as the quarterback. Members of the
team include the business unit CFO,
the legal team’s commercial lawyers,
international counsel serving as
regional legal recoveries leads, litiga-
tion counsel, outside counsel as sub-
ject matter experts, and representa-
tives from Research Development
and Sourcing. The team holds two
types of meetings: strategic review
and execution review. Analytics are
used to identify opportunities with have an ability to get on base, score outside counsel on strategic budget
the best environment, means and runs and win games. It’s more than management. There was a view that
chances for success (i.e., ability to baseball; it’s a revolution — one that too much deference was being given
achieve desired outcomes). challenges old-school traditions and to DuPont Legal’s outside provid-
Data analytics have also been crucial puts Beane in the crosshairs of those ers regarding proposed staffing and
in giving the recoveries program legs who say he’s tearing out the heart and activities on litigated matters. The
and countering the cultural-change soul of the game. chief productivity officer, armed with
challenges. The key challenge is to In 1992, DuPont Chairman Edgar dynamic analytics, has new insight on
move from a conservative, risk-adverse Woolard, Jr., challenged his staff to outside counsel performance, similar
culture to one of a client-focused, slash more than $1 billion in operat- to Billy Beane’s in baseball — firms
bottom-line-driven organization. This ing costs. Determined to do its part, that know how to get on base (efficient
is not to say there is no risk associ- DuPont Legal launched a campaign delivery of work product), score runs
ated with asserting these rights, but to achieve high-quality legal services (successful motions) and win games
that risk is factored into the analysis. at reduced cost. A legal department (case results). The chief productivity
Ultimately, by positioning the lawyers team, composed of corporate counsel officer has an important seat at the
and the business people for success, and senior management, and assisted table when inside litigation counsel
the ensuing results, supported by data, by outside consultants, conducted an engage the outside firm in those often-
reward the participants for taking a analysis of escalating expenses. The difficult discussions about staffing,
more proactive approach. team concluded that litigation would hours required, budget, and efforts
be the initial focus of the Legal Model needed relative to the value of the case.
New positions in the front office and established objectives to reduce This is part of change management,
In the Academy Award nominee cost and increase productivity. At its and the chief productivity officer helps
movie “Moneyball,” we are introduced core, the Legal Model is an integrated guide inside counsel in making hard
to Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the general approach for managing change within financial management decisions.
manager of the Oakland A’s baseball the law department, and for continu- Based on corporate clients’ de-
team. Forced to reinvent his team on ously improving how legal services mand for demonstrable cost savings
a tight budget, Beane has to outsmart are provided to DuPont businesses in and value-driven fee arrangements,
the richer clubs. The onetime ball- terms of quality, cost and efficiency. law firms are also expanding their
player, raised by the traditional rules The DuPont Legal Model is ever infrastructure teams to include
of the game, teams up with Ivy League evolving, and more and more, analytics-trained personnel. For
grad Peter Brand, a Sabermetrics Litametrics is taking hold. In 2013, example, one AmLaw 100 firm is
geek. In an unlikely partnership, DuPont Legal established a posi- staffed with an attorney heading the
Beane begins relying on Brand’s ana- tion titled “chief productivity officer.” project management department.
lytics to recruit bargain players that Concerns about “budget creep” war- This “business analyst position” is
the scouts call flawed, but all of whom ranted a new approach to engaging focused on providing quality data
78 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

13. Have a comment on this article? Visit ACC’s blog at www.inhouseaccess.com/acc-docket.
DuPont Recoveries Part One to meeting not only the client’s bud-
get requirements but also the firm’s
bottom line.
Toby Brown is the director of
Strategic Pricing and Analytics with
the law firm Akin Gump. In his
article, “The Challenges Negotiating
Legal Fees: An Alternative Fee Case
Study,” Brown refers to the legal fees
negotiation between corporate client
and law firm as the “rates dance.”
Brown emphasizes that the “rates
dance” is a futile exercise that leads
to the law firm struggling to make
profits under reduced rates and the
client not achieving any cost savings.
However, he does offer hope: “This
frustration is pushing many clients
to re-examine the dance and shift the
conversation to the fee level. The days
DuPont Recoveries Part Two of just getting a bigger rate discount
may be ending. Clients, under inter-
nal pressures, are learning to redirect
the dance into more healthy, proper
fee negotiations.”
Litametrics: A common thread
There have been many articles and
seminars that raise the topic of obtain-
ing or offering value in legal services.
There are often chants from the offices
of the general counsel that sound like
pleas of “Desperately Seeking Value.”
Litametrics can help in quantifying
value and can offer litigation counsel
a common thread to develop value
propositions that reward both the pro-
vider and receiver of value-based legal
services. In this way, the science can
to the firm’s partners so that they performance from both a financial help us with recognizing the art and
can make more informed economic and qualitative work perspective. improving the practice of law. ACC
decisions and manage their matters Another AmLaw 100 firm recently
on a real-time basis. As a nod back to hired a director of business manage- Notes
the “Moneyball” analogy, the role of ment and analysis, supporting the 1 Adrian Alleyne, DecisionPath Consulting
website, 2012.
this position is to teach partners how information governance and ediscov-
2 “Speaking Different Languages:
to “play the game” so that they better ery practice group. The partner who Alternative Fee Arrangements for Law
understand the economics behind leads this practice relies heavily on Firms and Legal Departments.” April
practicing law. Initially, partners the analytics expert to not only help 2012. ALM Legal Intelligence.
3 “Blessed Are the Geeks …,” Albert
were skeptical about incorporat- prepare pricing for proposals but
Chen, Sports Illustrated, December 10,
ing this quantitative approach into also monitor activity and financial 2012.
their practice. The result, how- impact throughout an engagement.
ever, has been an increase in matter Hitting productivity rates is critical
80 ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL