Conversations with Innovators — Q&A with Sterling Miller of Gober Hilgers PLLC
This week we are talking with Sterling Miller, former General Counsel of Sabre Corporation (retired) and Travelocity, and currently Senior Counsel with the Dallas office of Gober Hilgers PLLC, focusing on litigation, data privacy, and internal investigations.
Sterling publishes a widely-read legal blog called Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel available at www.TenThings.net putting his 20+ years of in-house counsel experience to good use. He serves on the Board of Directors of Fort Worth’s Terrasoul company and the advisory boards of several start-up technology companies. His first book The Evolution of Professional Football is in the final stages of publishing and should be available to purchase later this year.
1. Sterling, tell us about your current projects.
I stay pretty busy even though I technically retired. I am enjoying working at a law firm again – something I never thought I’d say after going in-house. I publish my legal blog, Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel, a couple of times a month and I am finishing up my first book. It’s about the evolution of professional football. I have become a frequent panelist at CLE presentations, local and national, which is something I really enjoy as well. And I do some coaching of in-house lawyers and young general counsel. I guess I’m always looking for something new and different to try.
2. You have been active on LinkedIn writing posts based on your 20+ years as in-house counsel. What are some key behaviors that drive success for in-house counsel?
It’s interesting that I never thought much about social media until I retired from Sabre last year. Since then I have found it to be a great outlet to write about legal issues and reach a broad audience quickly and efficiently. My interest started after speaking with some young in-house attorneys after presenting at a CLE in Dallas. They were hungry for any tips or guidance on how to be successful in-house and things they could do to increase the odds of becoming general counsel. After talking with them, I thought I should start writing this stuff down. And that’s how I got started. I think there are handful of core things you need to do to become successful in-house. They are: (1) be curious about the law and your company’s business, (2) give credit to others and recognize their contributions, (3) be ready to outwork everyone else, (4) the language of business is numbers – understand the financials for the company and for the legal department, and (5) don’t let the boss be surprised – communicate frequently.
3. Based on your experience, what are 5 things outside counsel can do better?
Only five? Okay, here we go:
1) engage the client up front around expectations as to cost. It’s worth any potential awkwardness to have early agreement on the scope and cost of the project;
2) be sure to train the next generation of lawyers to handle the work. If all the work follows the attorney as he or she progresses to partner then that cost goes up accordingly. Firms need to ensure that work that can be done by a third-year associate is not being done by a nine-year lawyer. And the excuse that it’s more efficient for the nine-year to do the work doesn’t cut it;
3) communicate frequently, even if it’s just to tell me that there is nothing going on this week. Nothing frustrates the client more than a black hole of silence;
4) give me your advice on what to do next. If you just give me the legal analysis but no recommendation – or you’re telling me you have nothing to add because the next step is a “business” decision, you’re not really helping me solve my problem; and
5) learn my business and keep an eye out there for things that might affect me – things I may not be aware of. Shoot me an article, come out and put on a CLE, or take me to lunch and walk me through it. Outside counsel that invests in understanding how my business works and is on the lookout for us is way more valuable to me than a firm that just always waits for me to bring them a problem to solve.
4. How do you see the practice of law evolving?
I don’t see how the billable hour model can be sustainable for firms charging $800, $900, $1,000 an hour. There are only so many companies and only so many matters that can justify rates like that. So, I see most of the changes being around cost of services. I think you will see more and more alternative billing arrangements, flat fees, blended fees, sliding hourly rates – where the cost per hour changes based on the complexity of the task, and a bigger piece of the pie for boutique firms where you get the same quality lawyers as “Big Law” but at half the price. There are a lot of really talented lawyers out there who can do the same thing as the $900 an hour lawyer for $300 or $350.
5. How can law firms and in-house counsel collaborate to reduce legal costs while maintaining the same level of service?
The most important thing is something I mentioned earlier – have an open and honest conversation about the expectations around costs for the project right up front. Most in-house and outside counsel are afraid to do this because it’s not always pleasant and seems a bit adversarial. Actually, it’s the opposite. In my experience, outside counsel want to help you meet your budget targets and solve your legal issue. Engaging at the front end about what you need and can afford helps outside counsel properly balance the resource and time they put into the project – or even take a pass if they are not the right firm for the work. If you don’t have the conversation, most outside lawyers feel compelled to go full bore to help you. That can lead to some nasty surprises when the invoices start coming in. If you don’t want to spend more than, say, $1,500 getting an answer – tell them that at the beginning. Afterwards, do a joint “post mortem” on any substantial project to see what worked, what didn’t work, how did outside counsel perform, how did in-house counsel perform, etc. The information you gather from such an exercise is priceless. I think most law firms would rather know what they did well and where they came up short vs. just having a client stay silent and vow never to hire those guys again because they did or didn’t do X, Y, or Z.
6. What’s the “one thing” you do that is most responsible for your success?
The business doesn’t want a 12 page memo setting out the answer to a legal question. That is almost as useless as doing nothing at all. I was trained to write in the “Hemingway” style – succinctly and to the point. I think having the ability to make complex legal issues easy to understand which allows your business colleagues to make educated decisions is key. I am pretty good at it, but can always get better. The one thing I remember most from law school legal writing training is the “short answer” section of a memo. People seem to forget about that section as they progress up the ladder at the law firm. It’s time to bring it back front and center. Give me the bottom-line answer ASAP.
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About the Firm:
Klemchuk LLP is a litigation, intellectual property, transactional, and international business law firm dedicated to protecting innovation. The firm provides tailored legal solutions to industries including software, technology, retail, real estate, consumer goods, ecommerce, telecommunications, restaurant, energy, media, and professional services. The firm focuses on serving mid-market companies seeking long-term, value-added relationships with a law firm. Learn more about experiencing law practiced differently and our local counsel practice.
The firm publishes Intellectual Property Trends (latest developments in IP law), Conversations with Innovators (interviews with thought leaders), Leaders in Law (insights from law leaders), Culture Counts (thoughts on law firm culture and business), and Legal Insights (in-depth analysis of IP, litigation, and transactional law).