What is the allure to general counsel of a day packed with short meetings with law firm partners?

A beautiful brochure arrived in my mail from the International Legal Alliance Summit, to be held in Paris on June 23rd. The brochure explains that attendees can choose 30-minute one-to-one meetings with senior partners from distinguished international firms or with general counsel from various big companies. A box lists general counsel who came to previous Summits but does not state any that are going to attend this particular one. The registration fee is in the $1,200 to $1,700 range per person.

I continue to be amazed that general counsel would willingly endure as many as seven half-hour meetings in the morning and nine handshake-and-hellos in the afternoon with law firm partners (or service providers) who are eager to be hired.

I must be missing whatever it is that lures buyers to the den of sellers, such as compensation, a free trip to Paris, frequent flyer miles, the ego-boost of non-stop wooing, the a plaque at the gala award dinner afterwards. Yet, the business model has been around for at least three years, as has my wonderment (See my post of Oct. 2, 2008: speed dating opportunity.). If you are interested, write the Leaders League.