Find quality, cost‐effective counsel

• Date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30420
• Published date: 01 March 2017

4 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

continued from page 1

members worried about were maintained through

expanded government funding.

“The lesson I learned was about the dangers of

coalition building on the board,” Buchanan said.

“I had never had that experience before and didn’t

understand just how destructive that could be.

One small cadre of board members became worked

up and almost derailed an important opportunity.”

Another lesson learned: Sometimes the line

between an operational decision and a governance

decision can be unclear, so the board needs to be

involved in decision-making in a meaningful way.

“Give them complete information and trust them

to understand the ramifications. Give your recom-

mendation, but allow the board to have a say,”

Buchanan said.

This approach paid off going forward for Bu-

chanan when, more recently, decisions related to

the instability of an important IT vendor critical to

the organization’s operation needed to be made.

While arguably an operational issue, she involved

her finance and executive committees and had

them meet with the vendor. “They were fully in-

volved and invested, and I appreciated their input

and experience on a technical issue that was mis-

sion critical,” Buchanan said.

This resulted in a more collaborative and

smooth process for this business issue and a thor-

oughly vetted agreement, she said. “Experience is

a good teacher,” Buchanan said. ■

Find quality, cost-effective counsel

When is the last time you and the board asked

serious questions about the quality of the legal

work the organization receives?

These are the hard questions you should be

asking yourselves—questions about the quality of

the services you receive and how much you are

paying for them.

In the Venable LLP webinar “Working Effec-

tively With Outside Counsel: What Every Nonprofit

Should Know” the presenters laid out these “con-

siderations in engaging counsel.”

• Find counsel that knows your organization.

• Obtain expertise in the legal area.

• Hire legal counsel with experience in non-

profits.

• Obtain references.

• Find the ability to provide “proper legal, finan-

cial and operational planning for new programs.”

It’s important when seeking new legal counsel to

set your expectations up front for two-way com-

munication.

Do this right away, particularly in the area

of making legal services cost-effective. Accord-

ing to Venable, the “vast majority of clients prefer

straight hourly billing with a detailed description

of the work” counsel provides.

The attorney should be asking at the outset of

the services what level of work you as a client are

seeking, so give some thought to the scope of the

work you need. Be prepared to talk in cost ranges

and negotiate with counsel at the outset. “If the

firm is the right fit, they will work with you,” ac-

cording to Venable.

Pay close attention to cost-versus-value issues,

Venable recommends. For instance, an attorney

who charges $900 an hour and finishes the work

in 10 minutes is a far better value than one who

charges $200 an hour and needs to perform six

hours of research to get the job done.

For more information, go to https://www.venable.

com/working-effectively-with-outside-counsel-what-

every-nonprofit-should-know-07-11-2016.

Use questions like these when you and the

board evaluate the legal work performed by the

organization’s counsel:

• Is the legal advice sound?

• Does the firm attend meetings as needed?

• Is the firm familiar with our organization’s

issues?

• Does counsel respond to our legal issues in a

timely manner?

• Does counsel communicate effectively?

• Are we receiving value for the money we spend?

• Is the counsel up-to-date on our issues?

• Are we happy with the attorney we directly

deal with?

• Are we personally satisfied with the services

provided by this firm? ■