Target & Nilan Johnson Lewis P.A.
mary judgment, and up to trial). They
also agreed upon flat fees for major
advisory projects, on a project-by-project basis. Finally, they arrived at a
significant volume-based discount on
class and collective litigation or related
matters. Nilan Johnson Lewis also
agreed not to charge Target for various
costs, including online legal research.
“We have designed a program that
is not unrealistic,” Rowader says. “We
don’t squeeze the firms with cost
restrictions, but rather reward them
for a great level of service and quality. Performance scorecards allow
them to see all of our metrics, not
just cost. We provide holistic feedback that helps the firms understand
the importance we place on the
overall working experience.”
Results have been impressive.
Whereas Target’s previous costs for a
single-plaintiff litigation might vary
within a range of up to $200,000,
the company now is able to budget
for each case with certainty. Day-to-day advisory questions, which
formerly ranged in cost from $3,400
to more than $15,000 a month, now
can be budgeted predictably. Further,
there’s the intellectual capital that
is gained and shared: Target Labor
and Employment Relations attorneys
and paralegals are encouraged to call
Nilan Johnson Lewis counsel without any concern for cost if they have
a difficult discipline or termination
issue, unusual leave question or thorny
compliance concern.
From Nilan Johnson Lewis’s
perspective, the monthly retainer
and project-based flat fees allow
the firm’s attorneys and paralegals a unique opportunity to learn
Target’s business and become more
effective partners. The firm’s attorneys become involved in significant
matters at a very early stage as part
of the compliance and preventative
processes, and learn Target’s policies
and practices from the ground up.
This also allows them to be a more
effective partner in litigation.
The most significant results
achieved, however, were in the reduction of legal cost. Target and Nilan
Johnson Lewis monitored the amount
spent in each of the areas covered
by the project, and compared those
figures to the amount that Target
would have spent in a standard hourly
arrangement. Cumulative savings over
the three completed years of the project total almost $1.2 million, about 5
percent of total spend.
“We are humbled and pleased to be
recognized as an ACC Value Champion,” says Rowader.
“This recognition is an indicator of
a great partnership,” adds Petouvis.
“We look forward to learning what
other companies are doing.” vc
“We have designed a
program that is not
unrealistic. We don’t
squeeze the firms with cost
restrictions, but rather
reward them for a great
level of service and quality.
Performance scorecards
allow them to see all of our
metrics, not just cost. We
provide holistic feedback
that helps the firms
understand the importance
we place on the overall
working experience.”