Presented by the In-House Counsel and Corporate Law Committees
During the 2018 AABANY Fall Conference, conference registrants, in-house counsel and Elite and Gold level sponsors will have an opportunity to participate in Pitch Sessions. The Pitch Sessions provide a platform for law firm attorneys/solo practitioners and legal service vendors to make meaningful connections with in-house counsels and other participants interested in legal services.
Law firm attorneys that wish to give pitches should fill out this form: bit.ly/fc18pitchlf
Deadline to complete Law Firm applications to give pitches is September 7, 2018.
Please review our FAQs below.
Please contact fall.conference@
This year’s participating companies include:
Barney’s
GreenOak Real Estate
Louis Vuitton
MacKay Shields
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking
Pearson
Rockefeller Group
TextIQ
Tishman Speyer
Fall Conference Pitch Session FAQs
Where will the pitch sessions take place?
In conference rooms at Fordham University School of Law
during the 2018 Fall Conference. Specific room assignments will be provided at the time participants check-in to the conference. While volunteers will be on-site to help direct participants to their designated rooms, participants are requested to check-in to the conference at least 30 minutes prior to their pitch slot to provide ample time to locate the designated room.
Who may participate in the Pitch Sessions?
In-house counsel may participate in the Pitch Sessions at no cost, but all law firms and solo practitioners must be registered for the conference in order to participate in the Pitch Sessions. Legal services providers who are interested in the pitch sessions may only participate if they are sponsoring the Fall Conference at the Gold or Elite level.
If I register or sponsor the conference, am I guaranteed a slot to pitch?
No. We review each application carefully and try to match each applicant with an in-house counsel or law firm/solo practitioner willing to hear a pitch. While we give preference to conference sponsors in the matching process, there is no guarantee that a sponsorship will result in a match. Please keep in mind that there could be many reasons why an application did not receive a match; for example, there may be no need for the types of services being pitched, an in-house counsel has a very specific need, or the in-house counsel is already aware of a provider’s services. Due to the volume of applicants received and for confidentiality reasons, we will not share the reason why a particular match was not made.
What is the level of seniority of the in-house participants?
In-house participants will either (i) have direct responsibility for making decisions on hiring outside counsel or (ii) have significant influence over selection of outside counsel and can arrange for meetings with more senior counsel within their respective organizations.
What information should a law firm or solo practitioner include in its pitch to in-house counsel?
In addition to providing basic contact information, each attorney applying to participate in the Pitch Sessions should provide an overview of the firm, a description of the participating attorney’s background and practice area specialty, years in practice, and a list of the practice areas that he or she will be presenting to in-house counsel, key differentiating factors of the firm, connection with AABANY, any diversity initiatives, and fee structure.
How will in-house participants be matched with law firms and solo practitioners?
We will forward relevant information received from the Pitch Session applicants to interested in-house counsel with our recommendations of the service providers that match the requirements of the in-house counsel. In-house counsel will then choose which law firms/solo practitioners or service providers they are interested in meeting at the 2018 Fall Conference.
How will I know what kind of pitch the participating in-house counsel is interested in hearing? How will I know what their needs are so we can adequately prepare for the pitch?
We expect that the participating in-house counsel will be interested in a broad cross-section of legal areas. Last year, participating in-house counsel asked to learn about a firm’s capability with respect to transactional work, litigation (both general and specific to business disputes and intellectual property matters), labor and employment, insurance and reinsurance capabilities, broker-dealer issues, environmental, real property and tax matters. In-house counsel were especially interested in learning what makes the firm unique and any new pricing models offered by the firm.
If, based on the company name or description alone, you are unsure whether the participating in-house counsel would be interested in hearing your pitch, you should list the company and your practice description anyway. We will review the law firm applications and match firms with in-house counsel, as appropriate. The sooner you are able to complete the law firm application form, the sooner we can make the match. We will endeavor to notify you by early September if you have been selected by an in-house counsel participant and will provide you with more detailed information about such in-house counsel to allow you to prepare your pitch. Please note that the need(s) identified by participating in-house counsel may reflect current or future need(s).
What steps are involved to participate in the Pitch Session?
Law firms and solo practitioners interested in applying for the Pitch Session should do the following: 1. Complete the law firm sign-up form. For the law firm sign-up form, please contact [email protected]. 2. AABANY will review the application and follow-up with the companies you are interested in meeting. 3. AABANY will contact you to let you know which companies wish to meet with you and what they are interested in learning about your firm/practice and your capabilities. 4. Once the match is made, you will be required to register for the Fall Conference, unless you are already registered. 5. After you are registered, AABANY will let you know which time slot you have by early September and which in-house counsel you will be meeting from each company. Each pitch session is allotted 30 minutes.
Is there a cost to participate?
For in-house counsel, there is no cost to participate. Law firm attorneys interested in pitching must be registered for the Fall Conference. For more information on registration, click here. Legal service vendors can only participate in the pitch sessions if they are a Gold or Elite Sponsor. For more information on sponsorship, click here.
Anything else I should know about the Fall Conference Pitch Sessions?
AABANY reserves the right to:
- Determine the suitability of law firm/solo practitioner and legal service provider applications
- Limit the number of law firm/solo practitioner and legal service provider applications made to each in-house counsel participant
- Make recommendations to participating in-house counsel.
There can be no assurance that a law firm or solo practitioner or legal service provider that makes a submission for the Pitch Sessions Program will be selected or that participation in the Pitch Sessions Program will result in actual legal work.