CLIENT TOOLS
Public Affairs Solutions
What people in government say and do can have a profound impact on your organization. McGuireWoods Consulting is structured to work with government effectively through a potent team of federal, state, local and international government relations professionals. In addition, clients reap invaluable benefits from our infrastructure and economic development, strategic communications and grassroots mobilization services.
Legal Project Management
Clients expect more from their outside counsel than ever – more efficient solutions, more accurate and transparent budgeting, more right-sized staffing, more predictable pricing, and more innovative use of technology. And rightly so. CEOs and CFOs expect more from their in-house legal teams, and they expect them to do it with less.
Alternative Fee Arrangements
Clients count on us to understand their business and deliver excellent service in a cost-effective manner. That’s why McGuireWoods has been a pioneer in crafting alternative fee arrangements.
In fact, we developed a proprietary legal project management system, ClientSync, to improve transparency and predictability for clients and to help control costs. Compass, the primary tool used as part of ClientSync, tracks AFAs to assist our lawyers with managing single or multiple matter fee arrangements and developing more thoughtful case planning and budgeting.
Because AFAs are an important part of our value-added commitment to clients, we have mastered the art and data-driven science of customized fee arrangements with an array of proven alternatives to the billable hour across matters of all sizes and shapes. And legal decision makers at top corporations have taken notice, ranking McGuireWoods in an elite group of law firms that are “absolutely best” at developing and implementing AFAs for clients and ensuring AFAs are the successful cost control tool they were intended to be — “bringing improved client focus, predictability in budgets, a more streamlined approach to the work, and double-digit savings.”
According to the BTI Consulting Group report, which is based on unprompted responses of legal leaders at companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more, McGuireWoods is one of only a handful of firms with skin in the game as well as “confidence, comfort and enthusiasm in pursuit of the AFA” — firms that stick to fee agreements and don’t ask for changes, and have tight project controls to ensure they don’t need to ask.
McGuireWoods was ranked among the best firms at delivering AFAs to corporate clients.
– BTI STATE OF ALTERNATIVE FEE ARRANGEMENTS
Crisis Management
We safeguard clients’ legal interests and reputations with a crisis management team experienced in courts of law and public opinion. Whether it’s shepherding a client through an existential food recall or adding value to our investigations work by counseling corporations, institutions and their attorneys, we field a joint McGuireWoods-McGuireWoods Consulting team, comprised of some of the most knowledgeable and experienced crisis management and communications gurus.
Technology in Action
Innovation is a key driver of the firm’s overall commitment to excellence. Given the fast pace of change in the highly competitive market for high-end corporate legal services, fostering innovation in our legal work and service to clients is critical to maintaining our competitive edge. Our culture of innovation shows clients we mean business.
For example, McGuireWoods successfully developed and deployed ClientSync, our proprietary legal project management program; we take novel approaches to alternative fee arrangements to help clients control costs; and we’ve built an outstanding e-discovery infrastructure, even helping clients establish their own in-house processes.
McGuireWoods uses data analytics to guide strategy and decision-making while enhancing the value we deliver to clients. Our lawyers and our technology team, including dedicated data analytics talent, collaborate to harness emerging technologies. We examine large sets of data seeking patterns, correlations, trends and other useful information that will identify – even predict – clients’ complex business problems quickly and efficiently.
MWAccel, a professional services arm of McGuireWoods and McGuireWoods Consulting, provides customized legal operations consulting services to help clients strategize and address their highest priorities.
Plus, the firm utilizes CoCounsel, a first-of-its-kind AI legal assistant developed by Casetext and powered by OpenAI’s latest and most advanced large language model, GPT-4. This partnership allows McGuireWoods to harness the latest AI technology to address clients’ critical business challenges and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of legal services.
Our commitment to innovation carries over to our pro bono program, with the firm earning recognition for creating the Triage Project, a pro bono initiative that substantially expands legal aid in Virginia and North Carolina and serves as a model nationwide.
At McGuireWoods we listen to our clients and hear what’s important to them, then craft innovative, business-minded solutions tailored to their needs. We fully partner with our clients on innovative approaches to their biggest challenges. This isn’t new for us; we’ve been focused on it for many years as a way to shape our services to ensure our clients succeed.
By staying close to our clients and working hard to understand their businesses and evolving needs, we stay ahead of the ever-steepening innovation curve.
“McGuireWoods’ strategic use of information technology allows them to be aggressive and gain the upper hand.”
– BTI “CLIENT SERVICE A-TEAM”
“McGuireWoods’ client-focused initiatives add value beyond the traditional role of legal counsel.”
– MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS “LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR”
“Named one of North America’s most innovative firms, McGuireWoods ranked third and made award shortlists in six categories.”
– FINANCIAL TIMES “NORTH AMERICA INNOVATIVE LAWYERS”
“The firm truly shines with a strong presence as an innovator.”
– BTI “BRAND ELITE”
Discovery Counsel Services
Got litigation? Then you’ve got the headaches and risks of e-discovery to show for it. Unlike many firms that outsource discovery, we decided some time ago that we would develop our own document collection processes, which are among the most sophisticated and efficient available. Clients receive senior-level, hands-on discovery advice and the unique services of our in-house professionals experienced in running advanced trial presentation software in front of a jury. We also work with clients to create and structure innovative in-house discovery programs.
Ethics and Privilege
When it comes to corporate privilege and other ethics issues, McGuireWoods’ Tom Spahn is widely recognized as a leading authority. Quite literally, he wrote the book on privilege. His continuous, incisive analysis of trends and case law make him the resource for clients seeking to maximize all-important privilege protections.
Ethics Rules Analysis Project
- Project Introduction and Overview
- Virginia Rules and ABA Model Rules Summary, Analysis and Comparison (1,768 pages)
- ABA Model Rules General Notes (101 pages)
- ABA Model Rules Specific Notes (559 pages)
- Virginia Rules General Notes (5 pages)
- Virginia Rules Specific Notes (574 pages)
Legal Ethics Opinion Summaries
A Practitioner’s Summary Guide to the Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine
Key Attorney – Client Privilege and Work Product Doctrine Issues: Recent Caselaw
Attorney-Client Privilege/Work Product Case Summary Database
Thought Leadership
Our lawyers collaborate across industries and legal disciplines to shape and share knowledge that keeps busy clients up-to-date on information essential to their businesses — via timely alerts, blogs, podcasts and webinars, seminars, databases and other industry-leading publications and events.