CLIENTSPEAK: Kevin Pratt, colaw + Movement Mortgage

Society 54 gives you direct access to what In-House Counsel and other purchasers of legal services want from their lawyers and law firms.

The CLIENTSpeak Q&A below is from a recent interview we conducted with Kevin Pratt. Kevin is Associate General Counsel at Movement Mortgage, where his day-to-day responsibilities include managing outside active litigation.

Before transitioning in-house, Kevin worked as a staff attorney and law clerk at the South Carolina Supreme Court; a workers' compensation defense attorney at McAngus Goudelock and Courie; a trial attorney at Lincoln Derr; and as an entrepreneur in the founding of CoLaw, a shared workspace and law practice management company for solo and small firm attorneys.

Kevin is also the founder of The Human Lawyer podcast, which shares lawyers human stories based on the belief that, too often, lawyers either fail to share, or be accountable to, their personal stories instead ignoring those in pursuit of an elusive career objective. Believing that one's personal story is inherently apart of his or her professional journey, the human lawyer seeks to amplify the personal in hopes of accelerating the professional.

Q: What factors influence whether you hire outside counsel?
A: Responsiveness, clarity of objective and strategy, and collaborative nature of engagement. We are always exploring ways to internalize legal spend in a way that allows/promotes outside counsel to perform the highest value tasks. For example, we believe that we can complete discovery drafts and initial reviews of discovery responses more economically than outside counsel and, in doing so, be better stewards of our company's resources. So with that in mind, we're always looking for creative engagements and new approaches to tackling complex litigation because, unless it's a "bet-the-company" matter, the traditional way of doing business has a predictable breaking point where legal spend begins to surpass exposure. We would like to re-imagine our outside counsel engagements to create a new paradigm from which we litigate cases while best leveraging outside counsel's unique skills.

Q: What are some things that outside counsel have done that have made a positive impression and/or impact?
A: Transparency on budget at the outset of engagement, clear delineation of workflow, consistent communication regarding proposed courses of action and their advancement of an identified strategy, and budget flexibility in the middle of an engagement when the unpredictable inevitably occurs.

Q: Do in-house counsel care if your outside counsel is a super/best/elite lawyer?
A: Not all all. I just want a relatable, normal human, who appreciates the unique business concerns in each matter and has more than one tool in his or her toolbox so that we're not always using a hammer when pliers may do the trick. I also have a personal aversion to making matters personal because while opposing counsel may be suing the company, he or she is doing his or her job in the best way he or she knows how to do it, and while we may disagree in his or her tactics, I prefer avoiding commentaries on the lawyer as a person. I just don't think it has a place in the conversation, and it muddies the waters.

Q: What law firm trends are you seeing that you would like to either end or continue?
A: The biggest blessing of COVID-19 is accelerating trends that will improve the legal profession, namely: the ubiquity of teleworking; and the acceptance of alternative fee arrangements. I believe the legal profession is encountering its Great Awakening of sorts, where it becomes a more attractive job than it has ever been as we accentuate the things that make it desirable (things such as flexibility and intellectual rigor) and de-emphasize those less desirable attributes (things such as the billable hour and hierarchical career trajectories).

Q: What advice would you give to a junior associate at a law firm?
A: Vary your experiences as often as you can; be creative (you are creative) and let that creative light shine; and, most importantly, be your authentic self. If you're quirky, own it. If you're a diva, own it. If you're a nerd, own it. Don't be who you think you should be. It never lasts, and that's what got the legal profession in trouble (from a wellness perspective) to begin with. 

Q: Is there one resource you use over another when soliciting referrals from colleagues for outside counsel?
A: Organic personal relationships > than any other out-of-the-box solution. Leverage whatever medium you have to develop relationships that expand your reach. And attend at least two events a year that you don't want to go to, but you think could have a nexus in expanding your professional network. Doing that does two things: (1) gets you uncomfortable which serves an actualized purpose; and (2) expands your perspective. Even if you meet no one, your career (and life) will benefit from those two things.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes outside counsel can make? (What should law firms avoid?)
A: Discovery churn without preparing a client for the expense.