The latest missile in the skirmish between Dentons and a growing number of law firm network leaders has been thrown by Joe Andrew, the so-called ‘polycentric’ firm’s global chairman.
Over the past few weeks The Lawyer has run a series of increasingly strident articles (see the row in full below) highlighting the similarities and differences between certain global law firms and networks.
In the latest round Andrew responded to an article published earlier this month by Steven McGarry, the president of AILFN and founder of Lex Mundi and World Services Group, who argued that Dentons was effectively the same as a legal referral network.
“McGarry’s assertion that Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, is ‘just like a network’ would be funny if it was not such a sad example of the straw man that defenders of the status quo have created, claiming that firms such as Dentons, Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells and Norton Rose Fulbright, all vereins, are merely legal networks,” Andrew said.
“Let’s be clear: networks are not bad, per se. In fact, sophisticated clients know that law firms and legal referral networks are both essential to serving their interests around the globe when expertise becomes narrower and geographic needs become broader. But most legal referral networks are not organised in the client’s interest, and they certainly are not law firms.”
Dentons, on the other hand, is a law firm, insisted Andrews.
“We provide all the benefits of an integrated global firm,” added Dentons’ chairman. “Consistent client service, global leadership and management, global conflict system, global billing, global training, global libraries and research, and global incentive and collaboration systems. All who rate law firms on quality, service and innovation acknowledge Dentons not only as one law firm, but as one of the leading law firms in the world.”
Andrew goes on to argue that there “should be no confusion that Dentons’ polycentric approach is what clients want”.
This, he claims, is a firm that is in and of the communities where a client needs a deal done or a dispute resolved.
“Only the arrogant perspective of the status quo views this polycentric approach as an attribute that makes Dentons something less than those firms that are headquartered in a single country and fly a single flag,” added Andrew.
He argued that a law firm and a law firm referral network were “not inherently better or worse than each other, but they are inherently different”.
“Dentons has formed its own referral network because, even as the largest law firm in the world, it is impossible to have the exact right lawyer in the exact right place for every client,” said Andrew. “There are more than 1,200 cities in the world with more than 500,000 people, but the 20 largest law firms in the world, even if combined, would not cover all of those locations.
“Law firms have to stop thinking of each other always as competitors, and start acting as collaborators to best serve clients. Connecting clients to the right lawyer in the right place is difficult. That is why all law firms need networks.”
According to Andrew, the problem with most existing referral networks, “like those that Mr McGarry has founded and economically benefited from”, is that they charge a fee.
“Consequently, a client is not guaranteed of being referred to the best law firm, just the law firm that is willing to write a cheque to join the network,” added Andrew. “Moreover, in most cases, when law firms write those cheques, they demand territorial exclusivity. That is also not in the best interest of the client. Since few law firms do everything a client might need, the client is not guaranteed of getting the best lawyers, just the ones the only law firm allowed in that jurisdiction happens to have.
“When commentators such as Mr McGarry attack our polycentric approach, they imply that high quality legal talent is concentrated only in the north and the west. But Dentons is polycentric because we recognise that talent is everywhere and opportunity is anywhere. That is why it is important to bring together great lawyers and great clients from communities and law firms of all sizes around the globe.”
Andrew concluded by saying that Dentons founded Nextlaw Global Referral Network as “the only free law firm referral network”.
“It will have all the positive attributes of the best referral networks – seminars, training, quality and service vetting, meetings, marketing assistance, collaborative innovation, to name a few – without the disadvantages to clients of the pay-to-play system,” said Andrew. “The only criterion is quality. The only motivation is to serve clients better.”
Andrew conceded that this approach inevitably meant that Dentons was paying for a network that includes its competitors.
“But we believe that collaborating with our competitors is in the best interest of our clients,” insisted Andrew. “This approach threatens the pay-to-play networks because it challenges their basic economics. They are obviously afraid of someone who says, ‘here is something better, and it’s free’. But that is the way it always is with innovation. The members of the status quo may complain, but clients will be better served by the revolution that Nextlaw Global Referral Network is leading.”
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