At one time, the legal industry was about long-term relationships. A law firm would help form a company. The close relationship between the lawyer and the company meant that the company consulted the lawyer on big decisions. Often, the lawyer became a member of the company’s board of directors. As the years rolled forward, a lawyer from the firm might take the general counsel position in the company and manage the day-to-day relationship between the company and the firm performing the services. The general counsel position would be handed down to the next former partner and so on, almost as an inheritance. The relationships between law firms and companies lasted for decades. In some instances, these relationships (absent lawyers sitting on the company’s board and automatically going from the law firm to general counsel role) still exist.
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