Fritz Smith Published Op-Ed in the Atlanta Business Chronicle
“Law Firms Must Respond to Recession”

Fritz Smith’s op-ed, “Law Firms Must Respond to Recession,” was published in the July 3, 2009 issue of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. In his article, Fritz discusses how a lot has been written recently in the media about the demise of the billable hour and corporate America's desire to reduce its legal costs. According to Fritz, "led by their own fiscally responsible general counsel and deputies and/or the efforts of their companies' finance and procurement departments, and spurred on by the leadership of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), more and more companies are partnering up with business-savvy lawyers at firms, and in addition to the talk, we are working together to create a shared value proposition."

Fritz continues by discussing how Seyfarth Shaw, among other law firms, did not wait for the economic downturn to develop new approaches and solutions to address the disconnect between the cost of legal services and the value of such services in the eyes of companies across the country. He notes that in 2006, Seyfarth began to address how the firm could help clients manage their legal costs and also simultaneously provide them with budget predictability, quality, value, and ongoing process improvements for lasting results. Among other approaches, the firm adopted the Lean Six Sigma business process improvement methodology "to map the delivery of our services and identify areas where efficiencies could be gained." Fritz discusses how the firm uses a methodology called "Seyfarth Lean," which is process and data driven. Fritz concludes, "Although we are ahead of many of our peers, Seyfarth thankfully is not alone in its efforts…. The weak economy has caused other firms to respond to the ACC's [Value] Challenge and the demands of the consumers of our services. Those firms who have yet to react do so at their own peril."