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However, bringing all outside counsel in-house would greatly increase the overhead ofthe legal department and add lawyers not needed full time. Instead, a combination oftechnology and communications shared through a managed legal provider programoffers a way to bring outside counsel functionally in-house. The managed legal providerprogram enables outside counsel to have ready access to the information needed forthe matter at hand and also provides ready access to how other outside counsel arehandling similar matters.Garry Hodge, Divisional VP and Assistant General Counsel for Walgreen Company, willlead the discussion about creating a virtual legal department by implementing aprogram in which outside counsel for Walgreen have access to information similar tothat available to their in-house counsel contacts.The program Walgreen is implementing will include a new internal matter managementsystem that will enable in-house counsel to better and more timely manage each matter.In addition, the system will serve as a resource to capture and share the experiences ofinside and outside Walgreen counsel across various practice areas to represent theirclient – Walgreen – more effectively.Properly created and managed, the virtual law department envisioned by Walgreenshould provide the increased efficiencies and knowledge of the client that in-housecounsel would be expected to have without incurring the expense of adding largenumbers of additional lawyers to the in-house legal department. Such a systemrequires a combination of information technology expertise, management expertise by5