Session on 3rd March 2025

“People trust people, not business corporations or LLPs,” explains Patrick Callinan, who leads Sprout Social’s international legal team, during a recent Platforum9 session. His insights provide a valuable roadmap for external counsel looking to build meaningful relationships with corporate clients.

From Law Firm Partner to In-House Leader

After qualifying in 2008 and working on 47 M&A deals throughout his international legal career, Callinan made the transition from law firm partner to in-house counsel about three years ago. “When I went into the in-house role, it was very different to what I’ve been used to. But also very exciting,” he shares. His journey from grinding out billable hours to managing Sprout Social’s legal affairs outside the Americas offers a unique perspective on what works—and what doesn’t—in the client-lawyer relationship.

Building a Book of Business

Before his transition, Callinan had to develop his own client base. “When you’re quite junior, you think there’s a slew of companies outside the door just willing to throw work at the law firm,” he notes. “For most firms, most people have to go out and win that work.”

His approach was systematic and value-driven. Rather than waiting for clients to come to him, he would identify potential clients and offer something of immediate value: “I’d approach these companies and go, ‘Hey, look, my name is Patrick Callanan. I’m down the road. I could go in and give you a presentation on the kind of issues that are facing SaaS companies in the UAE right now.’ Nobody ever says no to free advice from a lawyer for an hour.”

This initial connection often led to ongoing relationships: “I’d send a quick update, ‘This affects you, this is how it affects you, it’s important, these are the deadlines,’ and of course, they’re going to get back to you because of that.”

What In-House Counsel Really Want

Now on the other side of the table, Callinan offers clear insights into what makes external counsel valuable to corporate clients:

• Personal relationships matter more than firm prestige: “In-house lawyers want to know a person, they don’t want to necessarily know a firm… There could be Mary or John or Faheed or whoever at a firm that you can count on.”
• Predictability in costs: “In-house companies have budgets, and they don’t want to tear through them in the first quarter. A fee estimate should be the same as a fee cap… Give them predictability.”
• Clear scope of work: “You need to set out what the work is that you’re doing and then you also know, as an in-house lawyer, what the firm isn’t doing.”
• Concise, actionable advice: “They don’t want a 10-page legal memo. They want a half page with some succinct bullet points and maybe a summary at the end.”
• No padding of bills: “When they get their bill, they don’t want to see frivolous stuff… They don’t want two associates on the call where there’s no value added.”
• Quality and supervision: “This first client is your most important client. Use that as the building block to get all your other clients.”

The In-House Perspective

The transition to in-house work brings its own challenges. “In-house, it’s very different because you’re troubleshooting all day long,” Callinan explains. “When you’re in a law firm, you’ve got a client and you’re advising them of the risks… When you’re working in-house, you really have to get to yes.”

This shift means balancing the enthusiasm of sales teams against risk mitigation for the company—a dynamic not present in private practice where “you have one master and it’s the client.”

The AI Question

While AI is transforming legal work, Callinan maintains that for bespoke advice, the human element remains essential: “I don’t want an AI-generated summary of the GDPR. I don’t want a summary or rehash of the law. I want the answer to my questions, and then I’m going to want to jump on a call and discuss it with you.”

For corporate clients, the most valuable external counsel remains those who understand their business deeply and deliver predictable, high-quality work without surprises. As Callinan concludes, “If they know your business and they know exactly what you’re doing and how your products work, that is such a huge help because you don’t have to explain it to them every time.”

In a world where legal services are increasingly commoditized, the personal connection and business understanding remain the differentiating factors that matter most to in-house teams.