P. Sandra Landau, general counsel, ACE Cash Express: Ideally, it is someone we’ve used before, we’re satisfied with and call on again. If that individual is not the right lawyer for the new matter, or is outside the jurisdiction, then we look to a referral. If neither option is available, I will conduct a rather involved study of the Martindale-Hubbell directory. Next, I will interview the most suitable candidates found in the directory. Finally, I will make a selection. I might add, I have found some outstanding outside counsel through this latter method.

Robert H. Stone, vice president, general counsel and secretary, Avatex Corp.: We usually choose outside counsel based on my prior personal experience with a particular attorney or firm. Recently, though, we needed an attorney with expertise in an extremely narrow area of securities law. Even the large New York firm we typically use couldn’t help us. I turned to the Internet and found that an attorney in a Washington, D.C., firm had written extensively on the subject, and we ultimately hired him. This was a perfect example of how the Internet is changing the way we practice law because without it we never would have found him or his firm.