An instance of convergence and working together closely (literally)

When Daniel Churay joined YTC Worldwide, a $10 billion trucking company, in 2003 the law department head 722 law firms working for it. Quoted in a profile in the Nat’l L.J., Vol. 29, July 9, 2007 at 8, Churay gave a neat spin to the essence of convergence: “we are not into vendor management, we are into talent management, so we now have 11 relationship firms that we treat as an extension of our staff.”

From 722 firms to 11 relationship firms is dramatic, but the YTC Worldwide law department does more. “We review individual lawyers who work a lot of hours just as if they were an employee. Some firms have offices here in our offices.” That is a particularly enmeshed form of partnering.

As a result of these transformations, the trucking company has dropped its outside spending by $6 million a year.