Coronavirus Crisis Could Bring Big Changes to Legal Operations
Alex Tolston, the chief legal officer for Coral Gables, Fla.-based Hemisphere Media Group Inc., a Spanish-language broadcast company, took a 15% pay cut as a result of the coronavirus and expects the law firms he works with to make similar sacrifices.
Firms unwilling to discount their billing rates are going to have a really hard time justifying it to chief legal officers across the country taking voluntary pay cuts, said the 39-year-old Tolston, Hemisphere s legal chief since 2013.
The belt-tightening at Hemisphere and other corporate law departments presents challenges to law firms and could prove to be a singular moment for in-house legal operations, which have functioned more like other business units, efficiencies and all, in the last decade.