the same opportunity Clay called "real
lawyering."
"This gives us the opportunity to
be in the counselor role, not just the
draftsman," Hemenway said. "We can
get involved and have deeper client
relationships that are really more
rewarding. It gives us a chance to step
back, to look at what our role is and where
we offer the most value."
what Primerus brings to clients.
"When you see that a firm is a member
of Primerus, you know that it meets the
highest of standards, without exception,"
Buchanan said. "But we go beyond even
that. Primerus not only provides excellent
legal services; it offers attorneys who are
strategic partners, trusted advisors and
good friends."
Dale Thornsjo, shareholder with
Primerus member firm O'Meara,
Leer, Wagner & Kohl in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, said developing those trusted
relationships with clients is why his firm
first joined Primerus 10 years ago.
"We came on board because our firm
very much believes that the concept of
relationships is the most important aspect
in the practice of law," Thornsjo said. "We
felt Primerus' Six Pillars were very much
the same values as ours. It fit with us, and
it's been a very rewarding relationship for
us."
As a member of the Primerus Defense
Institute executive committee, he believes
the future will allow Primerus firms to
be on the leading edge of helping clients
find the best value for legal advocacy and
counseling. In the insurance industry,
Thornsjo said, metrics and performance
markers increasingly drive retention
decision making.
"Metrics allow clients to more
effectively see what the cost of legal
service is and what the value is," he said.
Thornsjo believes this trend will only
benefit Primerus firms.
can and do provide similar quality, and
many times superior quality, work as
the major firms do," he said. "We have
a better opportunity to represent clients
when we not only have a great relationship
with the client developed by and
through Primerus, but we can also better
appreciate their business needs driven by
their internal metrics program."
Primerus also offers members the
unique opportunity to collaborate to better
meet clients' needs.
Arthur Roeca of Primerus member firm
Roeca Luria Shin in Honolulu, Hawaii,
said that since joining Primerus in 2009,
he has been able to better serve his clients
if they have a legal problem outside
of Hawaii by referring them to fellow
Primerus attorneys.
His work for Costco provides a perfect
example. Roeca's firm was asked to step
in as defense firm on a matter for Costco.
After a successful resolution, Tony
Jaswal, director of claims for Costco in
Issaquah, Washington, wanted Roeca's
recommendations for how to find other
quality lawyers.
So Roeca put together a team of five
Primerus colleagues from around the
country--Chicago, San Diego, Tampa,
New York and Seattle--to meet with
Jaswal and his team. Jaswal later attended
the PDI Convocation in Napa, California,
and the next year, he brought a colleague
as well.
Now, Jaswal is a member of the
Primerus Client Resource Institute.
Launched last April, the institute brings
together in-house legal counsel, risk
managers, claims managers and corporate
executives responsible for legal affairs
from around the world.
Jaswal said he currently works with
about four Primerus law firms.
"Primerus is a great organization
with very high caliber law firms," Jaswal
said. "I'm pleased to have Primerus as
a resource when I'm looking for legal
representation."
He's also impressed with the quality of
the Primerus events he has attended. "The
time I have spent at Primerus events has
been time well spent," he said.
experience with Primerus with other
corporate counsel.
"I encourage others to reach out to
Primerus," he said.
years, Buchanan said the society aims to
achieve the ambitious goal of "becoming
the finest and largest provider of legal
services in the world."
The path to achieving this goal
means continuing much of the same
efforts of the past 25 years--finding
the finest small to mid-sized law firms
in cities around the world and banding
them together to better serve clients
with quality legal work for reasonable
fees. Included in this path are internal
goals, such as continuing to develop
state-of-the-art internet and social media
marketing services that make it easier for
clients to find Primerus firms; expanding
the Primerus Client Resource Institute
to foster deeper relationships between
clients and their Primerus member
attorneys; and continuing to grow
around the world. Primerus also plans to
expand its efforts to provide outstanding
continuing legal education for members
and clients, based on interest from
those who have participated in Primerus
educational events in the past.
Primerus recently appointed a
Long Range Planning and Succession
Committee to begin the hard work of
planning for the future.
"When we founded Primerus 25
years ago, we started with a handful of
attorneys who were concerned about the
deterioration of the ideals of the legal
profession we all loved," Buchanan
said. "We wanted to do something
about it, and we did. Now, Primerus is
a global organization with 180 member
firms in nearly 50 countries. I can only
imagine what the next 25 years will
bring as continue to re-imagine the legal
profession we all want for the future."