Barclays will in October launch an internal survey tool to assess its external lawyers’ performance.
The survey will be completed by in-house counsel at the bank and will contribute towards a visual value chart used by Barclays as the basis of regular reviews with external counsel and in the bank’s decision on which law firms to instruct. The value chart shows in the clearest relief where a law firm sits in comparison to its peers.
The chart is shown to law firms (with the other firms anonymised) and it forms the basis of a discussion with the bank over what areas firms need to improve to raise their overall performance. The chart will be factored in by Barclays’ inhouse lawyers in their decision on who to instruct on any given matter.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Stéphanie Hamon (pictured), managing director of Barclays newly-created commercial management team, which was set up to review and run the panel, said: “Firms can move up and down the value chart and we will be tracking and monitoring where our work is sent. It’s in their interest to be an ‘a’ or ‘b’ rated firm rather than ‘c’ or ‘d’ – we wouldn’t expect to give the bulk of our work to a ‘d’-rated firm.”
This article first appeared in the latest Legal IT Insider newsletter