Staples’ Attorney Rejects Old School Approach

Today, as an associate general counsel at Staples, Stephanie Shores Lambert handles the company’s product safety issues, and also oversees 12 attorneys who handle operational issues related to marketing, sales, manufacturing, merchandising and real estate.

As is often the case these days among in-house counsel, she expressed a growing aversion to the billable hour, and noted that an experienced attorney understands how much effort will go into a research project and ought to be able to quote a flat rate.

Recently, Lambert said she has been experimenting with an online request for proposal platform that allows her to make a comparison of what different law ...