What: Document review for multiple product liability lawsuits
Challenge: Nothing frustrates a company’s general counsel more than being dragged into a lawsuit--unless it is multiple lawsuits requiring thousands of hours of work without enough bodies on hand to tackle them.
That’s where David M. Aronowitz found himself in 2004, facing a big product liability problem and several lawsuits.
Aronowitz is executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, the world’s leading supplier and marketer of consumer products for lawn and garden enthusiasts. Its brands--including Miracle-Gro, Roundup and Ortho--are market leaders in their categories. Scotts also owns Smith & Hawken, which produces gardening tools and outdoor furniture. The company reported net sales of $2.7 billion in fiscal 2006.
At first, Aronowitz followed his traditional approach. He hired three law firms, each with its own expertise, to handle the document review. In this instance, the firms could not get along. Rather than work out their problems, there was finger pointing between the lawyers as to why things were not getting done, Aronowitz said. Aronowitz began to look for another solution.
Solution: Using contractors allowed Scotts Miracle-Gro to take control of the project, Aronowitz said, saving the company millions of dollars. It also brought consistency to the review process, something the three law firms could not do. “We’ve gotten work done faster and of higher quality,” Aronowitz said. “We also have the same people doing it instead of a constantly changing cast of associates. It seemed like with every bill we received (from the law firms) there were 10 new names on it.”
Using contractors also gave Scotts the flexibility it needed. When the project heated up, Lumen’s team could bring in additional staff. As things settled down, Aronowitz could rework staffing to provide only the people he needed.
“We knew who they were, how they worked and what their rate of review was,” Aronowitz said.
Beyond Document Review: Lumen Legal’s contractors have gone beyond document review and made their way into other projects as well, Aronowitz said. Based on their experience, Aronowitz has deployed them into areas like general commercial work, contract review, due diligence and negotiations. With Lumen Legal’s help, Scotts also has hired an attorney, paralegal and records manager on a direct-hire basis.
Aronowitz called his relationship with Lumen Legal “hugely successful” and a permanent part of Scotts’ legal strategy.“It was fortuitous timing and fine work by Lumen’s representative,” Aronowitz said. “They’re very sensitive to what’s going on with us and what our needs are. They don’t push things that we don’t need. They’re good listeners, and that’s why we use them.”
DOCUMENT REVIEW
Who: Fortune 100 corporation facing major litigation
What: Accurately process over 700 boxes of documents
Challenge: Review of the thousands of documents had to be completed in a 10-week period to meet an aggressive court date. The corporation’s outside counsel lacked the resources to quickly assemble a review team. The remote location of the project required contractors willing to travel and remain on site five days and four nights per week.
Solution: Within seven days of receiving the assignment, Lumen Legal identified, interviewed, referenced and deployed 12 attorney contractors who worked under the direction of the outside counsel. This effort was completed before the scheduled court date. Outside counsel was fully prepared to defend the case and the client saved over $350,000, because Lumen Legal delivered the talent at less than half the cost quoted by others.
CONTRACT STAFFING
Who: Corporation with multistate operations
What: Need for a senior-level paralegal
Challenge: Corporation could not add permanent staff due to a company-wide hiring freeze
Solution: The Lumen Legal database was leveraged to quickly identify dozens of experienced legal professionals in the work-site area. Three were interviewed and reference-checked, and their profiles submitted to the client. After six months on the assignment, the chosen interim paralegal was notified of the corporation’s intention to make her a permanent employee once the hiring freeze was lifted.
DIRECT HIRE SEARCH
Who: Global medical device company
What: Needed an attorney with six to nine years of corporate transactional experience at a large firm (merger and acquisition, securities, government relations, employment and labor relations). Past academic achievement was also important.
Challenge: In addition to meeting the qualifications, the structure of the department mandated that new employees remain satisfied with the position for which they were hired, because rapid upward mobility was not probable.
Solution: Lumen Legal undertook a nationwide search, evaluating hundreds of experienced attorneys. Four viable job candidates each spent a day on site with the legal department. They chose a trilingual attorney who had worked for a top-tier firm serving Fortune 500 clients, both domestically and internationally. Having earned an undergraduate degree with honors and a law degree with high distinction, this Order of the Coif member was not only highly intelligent, but also very approachable and genuine. The company was delighted to find a seasoned and skillful performer whose selfless attitude made him a valued team member.
E-DISCOVERY
Who: A Fortune 50 Corporation
What: Governmental investigation of several unrelated matters
Challenge: To comply with the inquiries, an electronic review of over one million documents was needed. Through past experience, the litigation management team realized that this undertaking would be budget breaking.
Solution: The head of the litigation team was price-point focused. He resolved to realign the company's purchase of outside legal services at the associate attorney skill level; he selected to have associate-level work completed by licensed attorneys working on a contract basis under the supervision of outside counsel managers.
Lumen Legal was asked to work collaboratively with outside counsel to establish, launch and maintain two e-discovery teams located in two diverse labor markets. Particular consideration was given to providing attorney team members with workplace incentives and benefits meant to reduce turnover and enhance daily productivity. Lumen Legal and outside counsel managers maintained a high-level of personal contact and planned communication to ensure that productivity targets were being attained.
During the first nine months of the investigations, six distinct e-discovery projects were systematically produced by the integrated attorney teams. Through the realignment of associate-level legal spend, $1.8 million in savings was realized during the same nine-month period. Corporate litigation managers are now working to expand the collaborative, integrated team model with their other law firm providers.
