International Co-Counsel (continued) International law departments in large companies are often called upon to serve the needs of multiple business units in numerous international markets. A lean internal legal team is able to handle such a challenge only if its members are highly experienced and have built a web of on-the-ground support resources in various countries. Part of the legal service component is handled by these local counsel resources, not through expanded head count. By contrast, a typical law firm delivers expertise in its own country's laws and transactions to a broad range of clients, requiring a large "back-office" of secretaries, paralegals, junior attorneys and others to package its services under one roof (with fees that reflect its high infrastructure costs) In following an in-house international "gatekeeper" model, InternationalCounsel is able to handle the broad scope of its clients' needs. Similar to the multiple business units that must be handled by a lean in-house team, we choose to focus on a limited group of clients and their international needs, as opposed to a large number of transactions for a broad range of clients. This keeps us from over-stretching our team and assures a focus on our core competency - the delivery of cross-border legal resources. Return to Our Team back to top | home Copyright 1997-2009, InternationalCounsel. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.