Dane Drobny Discusses Engagement Between General and Outside Counsel with Legal Dive

In a profile with Legal Dive, Winston & Strawn Partner Dane Drobny discussed his thoughts on better engagement between outside and general counsel, and the lessons he’s learned during his time in-house that can be used to support corporate clients.

“I did a lot of litigation and was focused on winning,” he said of his time before transitioning to general counsel at Sears and Groupon. “When you’re in-house, you realize your outside lawyer can win a case for you but spend way too much money. That’s not really a victory; it’s an outcome in a case but it’s not the result you want.”

Dane noted that in-house counsel see winning as part of a broader goal and look for outside counsel to deliver value in addition to the legal wins. He explained that for general counsel, this additional value might include getting litigation wins without breaking the bank, expecting counsel to respond when reached out to, and having counsel meet with business partners urgently when asked to do so.  

“A lot of the value is driven by the softer sides of the engagement,” he said. “How you interact with them and how you treat them.”

Following his return to Winston, Dane said that his goal is to use the lessons he has learned from his experience as inside counsel to better serve his corporate clients by asking them to tell him up front what their expectations are, what the budget is, and to give him real-time feedback on how his team is doing.

“If you have an objective in a case, let them know that,” he said. “If there’s a business person who [needs to be] treated a certain way, tell them. It has to be this two-way dynamic relationship, where there’s transparency and communication.”

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