Joining Ally Law
Overview
Global Accolades
Our membership includes 69+ full-service business law
Ally Law is a Band 1 Leading Law Firm Network, Global-
firms in 48+ countries. Our members are mostly mid-
wide, as ranked in the 2020 edition of Chambers Global.
sized in their respective jurisdictions, with sophisticated
The organization is also ranked Band 1 in Chambers Latin
services and internationally active clients. Ally Law
America (Global Law Firm Networks, Latin America-wide)
enables our members to be global for their clients,
and Band 3 in Chambers Asia-Pacific (Leading Regional
without the conflicts of interest or excessive fee levels
Law Firm Networks).
found in the largest firms. These advantages are very appealing to clients and have enabled Ally Law to remain vibrant and growth-oriented for more than 30 years.
Chambers Global has this to say in its review: “Ally Law is recognized globally for its top-tier legal offering… High standards are assured through the annual evaluation
Approximately 75% of our members have been in the
of members. The network maintains quality across
organization for more than ten years. With this history,
the board by additionally seeking client feedback to
our members have close relationships with each other
guarantee technical and practice standards are met.”
and significant business flows between our firms.
A majority of members have achieved elite rankings by
Ally Law membership is exclusive in that we accept only
Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation,
one member firm per jurisdiction and our members do
IFLR and Latin Lawyer. The stature of our member firms is
not belong to other global networks, clubs or alliances
the cornerstone of our cost-effective, coordinated legal
which our Board has deemed competitive with Ally Law.
service model.
That said, our members are not required to use Ally Law when they need counsel in other locations.
Today, the organization is focused on three main goals: Assisting members in better serving
Creating a non-competitive
needs in a global economy.
information and expertise.
their clients’ legal and business
forum for the open exchange of
Helping members expand their practices through joint business development initiatives, special interest group events and assistance with marketing communications and strategy.
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Core principles
Ally Law considers certain fundamentals critical to client service and member firm quality. We ask prospective firms to ensure they share these values and can uphold them as members.
Responsiveness
Quality
When receiving a referral, a member
Each of our firms agrees to an annual
firm will contact the receiving firm by
vetting process to ensure the quality
e-mail or telephone within 24 hours.
and professionalism of our group remain at the highest levels.
Commitment
Visibility
Member firms approach Ally Law and
Member firms are committed to
each other with an investment mind-
communicating within their firm
set. Building relationships is important,
about Ally Law to ensure client
and Ally law firms agree to attend the
requests are treated with urgency
Annual Meeting and a regional or
and all firm attorneys consider
interest group meeting each year.
Ally Law members when they need counsel in other jurisdictions.
Accessibility Member firms agree to keep their profiles and contact information accurate and complete on our website and respond in a timely fashion to update requests.
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Membership advantages
Ally Law members have high expectations for each other and for the overall organization. The good news is these expectations are consistently met or exceeded, such that our firms find the benefits of membership are far greater than their investment.
Ally Law provides carefully-vetted
Ally Law provides clients of member
Ally Law headquarters office works
business law firms in major economic
firms with quick access to the local
hand-in-hand with our members to
centers worldwide, such that member
knowledge of law firms in foreign
ensure they make the most out of their
firms can refer with confidence when
jurisdictions. For our members,
firm’s membership, from addressing
their clients need assistance outside
they gain this important advantage
individual concerns and supporting
their home jurisdiction.
without the expense of opening and
firm efforts to assisting members in
maintaining foreign offices.
collaborating with each other.
Ally Law enhances the visibility of our
Ally Law provides an informal
members with clients, prospective
forum for sharing best practices
clients and other law firms through
and management concerns among
LinkedIn, blogs, educational
noncompetitive peer firms.
Ally Law relationships are enduring and go beyond an individual client file. This long-term perspective translates into clear advantages for you and your client, as their smallest legal issues are handled with care and attention by firms who might never handle another matter for them.
webinars and client newsletters. In addition, Ally Law hosts four major meetings per year: our Annual Meeting and three Regional Meetings, for the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. In addition to these events, several meetings also take place during the year within our specialty groups.
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Membership criteria
Firms who are interested in membership are invited to complete an application. Once the application has been reviewed, Ally Law will schedule an onsite meeting with the equivalent of the firm’s management committee for further conversation. If both the firm and Ally Law are interested in taking the membership process forward, we invite the prospective firm to attend a membership meeting. Finally, our Expansion Committee and our Executive Committee review the firm’s candidacy and reach a decision on membership.
Our basic membership requirements
Membership in Ally Law is exclusive.
Ally Law member contacts must
when evaluating new firms:
In most instances, members may
be fully proficient in written and
not be in other international legal
spoken English.
networks deemed competitive to Ally Law.
insurance if customary for their
corporate business and litigation
jurisdiction.
in international business matters.
Firms must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the operation and
Firms should be substantial in
development of Ally Law, including
their respective jurisdiction,
participation in annual and regional
responsible for their own staff and
meetings, timely payment of dues
work products and with significant
and prompt response to requests
partner involvement and oversight
and referrals from other firms.
in client matters.
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level of professional liability
Firms should have a broadly-based practice with demonstrated expertise
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Members must hold an appropriate
Group marketing
One of the areas in which Ally Law differs from most other networks is our clear focus on group marketing. We have an active effort to pitch large corporations for work that involves many jurisdictions. We have found that as a group we are able to successfully compete with other national and global firms for work. For example, here are four of the projects we’re currently tracking:
Ally Law members were selected as worldwide employee benefits counsel for a Fortune 100 company headquartered in New York. This opportunity originated from one of our US firms who did only local work for the company. When the company found out that their local counsel was part of an international network, they asked for a proposal from Ally Law to handle their benefits-related work in more than 30 countries. The company selected Ally Law over a global firm because the coverage available to them through Ally Law was so much broader. Ally Law members were selected to act as labor and employment counsel for a Fortune 500 logistics company. Our competitors were the large labor and employment litigation specialist firms based in North America. As a group, we were able to demonstrate a level of coverage comparable to these large firms and this corporation is now working with many Ally Law member firms. Ally Law was selected by a multi-million dollar coffee/juice shop chain to assist in multiple jurisdictions. Through an ongoing relationship, former Denmark member who went in-house connected our Swedish member firm with the company, where they advised on their expansion into Sweden, including opening dozens of high-concept stores. In turn, Swedish member referred the company to New York member firm which assists the client in company formation, real estate and employment law. With company operations in 15 countries throughout the world, we continue to make introductions to the company and other Ally Law jurisdictions. Our view is that while geographical referrals are important, the largest economic opportunity lies in working together to pursue new business most members could not pursue on their own. Our experience is that major corporations are more interested than ever in alternatives to large regional firms, national firms and global firms. As a group, we provide depth and breadth and also value, with each member setting rates according to the local standard rather than a distant headquarters city. Ally Law presents a compelling and attractive option and we’ve found larger companies very receptive to this approach.
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Membership dues
Member dues are calculated based on firm size and geographic location.
For more information contact:
For new firms however, an initiation fee is to be submitted once membership
Wendy Horn, Executive Director
has been approved (see chart). New firms are also assessed membership dues for their first year in an amount equal to their initiation fee. Therefore, the initial payment will be the total of your initiation fee and your first year’s dues. In the second year of membership, new firms transition to the same schedule as existing members and dues are collected in January each year.
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team@ally-law.com
Membership dues
New member fees
Ongoing membership dues
New member fees are calculated
The structure consists of three components:
based on firm size:
A fixed fee component: A basic fee equal for each current member firm.
NEW MEMBER DUES + FEES (USD)
SIZE
0 1 – 20 LAWYERS
$7000
21 – 50 LAWYERS
$8750
51 – 75 LAWYERS
$11,000
75 + LAWYERS
$14,000
00
In the second full year of membership, new firms transition to the same schedule as existing members. Note: Ally Law has sharply reduced new member fees for firms joining the network in 2020, in recognition of the uncertain economic conditions resulting from COVID 19.
Currently, the fixed fee component is $3850. A size component: An additional fee based on the size of each member firm as reported annually by number of lawyers and capped at 100 lawyers. Currently, the per lawyer cost is $42. A value component: An additional fee based on the overall value of
TIER
FEE
1
$120,000+
three-year rolling average of each
2
$80,001 – $120,000 $9,000
member firm’s report on collected
3
$40,001 - $80,000
$6,000
The value component is assessed in
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$15,001 - $40,000
$3,000
graduated tiers as follows.
5
$0 - $15,000
NO VALUE FEE
membership as measured by a
fees for inbound Ally Law referrals.
$12,000
The three-year rolling average will be offset one year for reporting purposes. For example, the value component for 2019 is based on the average of reported referrals for 2015 – 2017. Upon request, and in instances of a possible violation of ethical rules in a jurisdiction, member firms may request that the value component be subjectively set by the Executive at its discretion, according to the existing tiers and with regard to the historical value of membership in that jurisdiction. This calculation will not be based on the amount of collected fees for inbound Ally Law referrals. For more information, contact: Wendy Horn, Executive Director, at team@ally-law.com
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Ally Law Headquarters 825 Nicollet Mall, Suite 1800 Minneapolis, MN 55402 USA Wendy Horn, Executive Director Email: team@ally-law.com ally-law.com
For a current list of all members visit ally-law.com/member-firms.