Are you a law firm or a placement agency?
We are neither - but combine the best elements
of both. The Law Society of Upper Canada (i.e., Ontario, to most)
considers us a law firm, because to them, if you're not an "inside"
employee, you have to be an "outside" and somewhat disinterested
service provider. However, unlike a law firm, we exist to provide
you with in-house, business-minded advice, as you would expect if
you had an in-house counsel of your own.
Furthermore,
our delivery model results in a service that is more analogous to
a "shared" senior employee on your team rather than the
more expensive, and somewhat removed, option of an outside law firm.
Most of our clients like the fact that we will come to your office,
without additional charge, and that you will only pay for services
as you use them.
A
placement agency on the other hand, focuses on finding an employee
for you and taking a large cut for that service, or alternatively,
providing you with short term staffing for a "lumpy" project
and then moving onto something else. We, however, are a service
provider that works with our clients for the long term. Your business
engages with Cognition, so there are no placement fees and we draw
from our diverse pool of talent to ensure you work with a lawyer
whose skill set meets your business needs.
What
is your typical engagement?
There
is no "typical" engagement for Cognition. One of our many
differentiating factors is our flexibility - we tailor our engagements
around the needs of our clients. Some of our clients are private
companies in their infancy who want occasional legal and contractual
assistance on an hourly basis and the benefit of in-house mentality
and costing. Others are larger private companies who require the
services, expertise and economics of a general counsel, without
the headcount and commitment of a full-time employee resource. Still
others are larger and possibly public companies with an existing
in-house department, who simply want to extend their internal capacity
in a cost effective manner without increasing headcount. In the
end, we tailor our engagement around your needs and wants.
Do
Cognition lawyers maintain their own permanent offices?
Not
in the traditional sense. Again, we offer our clients the flexibility
of choice. If you want or need us onsite, we would be pleased to
attend at your offices and integrate with your teams as part of
our service offering. We do not charge our clients for this service.
All we generally ask for is a desk and an Internet connection -
in any space or closet. On the other hand, for clients that simply
want to outsource work from time to time as it arises but have it
handled with an in-house mentality and cost structure, we are perfectly
equipped to fulfill your needs remotely. Whichever approach is best
for your company, one of the many key benefits that you enjoy is
that we have minimal fixed cost infrastructure, which allows us
to offer top quality legal advice at a price that is unmatched in
the legal community.
Why
do lawyers join Cognition?
Perhaps
a better question is why wouldn't they? Cognition's business model
gives our lawyers the best of all worlds. Lawyers in private practice
often express that they would be perfectly happy if they could only
work three days a week for a pro-rated portion of their salary.
We offer an entrepreneurial environment in which a lawyer can play
a valuable role as part of our clients' management teams while maintaining
a sense of control over their hours and lifestyle. As an alternative
to a typical in-house position, on the other hand, Cognition's lawyers
enjoy the variety of being able to work with multiple clients
as well as the opportunity to build a business and consequently,
their income.
What
type of legal work do you most commonly do?
Our
lawyers come from varied backgrounds, which means we can offer a
wide range of expertise to our clients. The most common type of
work we do is corporate and commercial, however, in litigation matters,
we can lay the groundwork needed to prepare a file to hand off to
outside counsel, thereby saving our clients significant legal costs.
We will develop, negotiate and revise the contracts by which you
sell and procure goods and services and operate your business. We
will prepare agreements for shareholder arrangements, software licensing,
teaming arrangements, partner alliances, support services, professional
services, employment, real property leases or whatever your business
requires.
Do
you replace the need for outside law firms or in-house counsel?
Cognition's
goal is not to replace outside law firms or existing in-house counsel.
What we offer our clients is high quality legal services with flexibility
and great cost savings. This often means working with both existing
in-house counsel and outside law firms. Cognition lawyers can support
existing in-house lawyers or departments by providing an extra lawyer
when needed without having to hire an additional employee. We can
also help reduce our clients' dependence on solely using outside
firms. We can do much of the work in-house and then transition a
file to an outside firm when it is ready. Often, we manage the relationship
with the outside law firm allowing your company's employees to focus
on their own jobs.
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