📬 Legal Troubles: Managing out-of-control lawyer fees

Pricing chaos? Not on your watch.

When pricing, billing, and growth run on duct tape, the cracks begin to show, and it’s not long before they’re pits of despair. The Monetization Operating Model whitepaper shows how CFOs replace patchwork systems with infrastructure built for AI-era scale. Your future self—and your P&L—will thank you.

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There are some awesome questions coming through, but I’m always looking for more. Submit your questions here, and I’ll do my best to get to them in the coming weeks.

We’ve got some great topics today. Here’s what’s on tap:

Now, let’s get into it.

Logan from Calgary, Canada asked:

How do you / other CFOs manage continuous learning at the highest level? Obviously, one person can't know everything, but as a CFO, you're expected to have a high level of knowledge in all finance fields. What resources are most common, or how do you approach learning a new topic that you're expected to be an expert in?

Logan, can I let you into a secret?

I’ve had nearly 25 years in accounting and finance, most of them in leadership roles, looking after big teams and big balance sheets. And I’ve done that with a very basic working knowledge of tax.

And I mean super basic. (There’s a reason I’ve never written about tax strategy.) What I am good at is spotting situations that have tax implications, and then using my little black book to find the right person to help me.

That’s the lesson. You don’t need “a high level of knowledge in all finance fields” to be a successful finance leader. You need a basic working understanding of all of them, and an expert understanding of a few. Ideally, you want to be the best in the world at your particular combination of industry, capital structure, size, and geography. For example:

So don’t aim to be an 8 out of 10 in every discipline. Get to 11 out of 10 on the 3 or 4 that really matter for your context. And when something comes up in an unfamiliar field, phone a friend.

And if it’s brand new and you need to get up to speed quickly? Do a 2-hour sprint. Read the top three whitepapers, call two experts, and triangulate the picture fast. You’ll know enough to ask the right questions and lead the decision.

How do you keep building over the long run? First, get exposure to the ecosystem around your priorities. Meet the bankers, advisors, and operators in your sector. Stay plugged into the debates. Peer CFO groups, industry bodies, and the right media (FT, good podcasts, research reports) are what most CFOs actually lean on.

Alongside that, make sure you keep fresh on the evergreen fundamentals of finance:

I’m biased, but this is exactly why I write what I write: to keep CFOs sharp on those fundamentals. Use my content as one of your tools. But don’t stop there. Take time out every couple of years for a proper off-site course. I always find that a few days out of the grind gives my brain room to breathe and generates new energy and ideas.

Read in between. Stay curious. And yes… keep following Secret CFO.

TLDR: The secret isn’t knowing everything. It’s knowing what to go deep on and who to call for the rest.

Thanks for the question, and best of luck on your learning journey.

CFO in the Middle from Denver asked:

How have others successfully managed legal costs for time-sensitive projects or projects where we seem to have limited leverage? The companies I have worked for struggle to get law firms to commit to fixed or capped fees, especially for urgent or specialized projects.

On a time-sensitive project where you have limited leverage?

Lol.

The honest answer: You won’t be able to manage costs in that situation. It’s already too late.

The law firm will tell you they need to divert their best lawyers, the scope isn’t clear, but of course, they want to “help you out.” Meanwhile, they’re licking their lips at the open-ended, uncapped, time-billed mandate you’ve just handed them.

So the trick is not to end up there. See projects coming earlier, warm up lawyers in advance, and build some competitive tension into the fee negotiation.

What creates leverage? Volume of work, predictability of pipeline, and the ability to move work elsewhere. The firms know which clients feed them regularly, and those are the ones who get flexibility on fees.

If you’ve got time, structure things properly:

That’s easy to do if you’re organized. Not if you’re calling 911 every time a new deal drops.

Another approach is to set up an umbrella agreement with a trusted partner. Pre-agreed parameters in exchange for giving them your repeat ‘urgent’ business. This is the model I’ve seen work best in practice. If you’ve got volume and trust, you can lock in rate cards and caps that actually hold up, even on urgent matters.

I’ve always taken the approach of hiring the best for specialized situations. Bizarrely, if you structure it right, it can actually end up cheaper.

There’s a banking lawyer I’ve used a lot, considered one of the best in the world in his field. He’s memorized all my debt docs, knows every market standard, every relevant case. His rate is stupendous - thousands an hour - but he can answer most questions I have in a six-minute call. That’s 10% of an hour.

Compare that to a firm that throws a couple of associates at it, insists on drafting a formal memo, and bills you 8–10 hours (at cheaper rates) for what you thought was a simple question.

Building relationships like that is the trick.

But let’s be real. When you’re in a pinch, you’re paying whatever they ask. The only real answer is to create leverage early, so you’re not negotiating price when the clock’s already ticking.

And if that fails… you could always try this guy:

Thanks for the question.

The Mini-CFO from Asia asked:

I am a regional CFO in an MNC. Your strategies on how to be a better CFO really resonate. However, despite my attempts to ringfence my energies and time, I find myself sucked into day-to-day “fire-fighting” and multiple rounds of cost-cutting when it feels like my team is already squeezed dry and heading towards burnout. I enjoy the role for its challenges and have a strong business partnership. However, the challenging macro environment, plus 4 corporate reorgs in 3 years in the finance team, has left me feeling increasingly frustrated with having to do more with less. How does one cope?

Thanks for the question, Mini-CFO.

Forgive me for this… but it’s time for some tough love.

Doing more with less is the name of the game. That’s capitalism, baby. If you’re the regional CFO, these reorganizations are happening under your watch. Which means they’re either the right thing or the wrong thing. And your team needs you to form that opinion in real time and stand on the right side of it before they get implemented.

The goal of cost-cutting is to strip fat without cutting muscle. If your team is at a breaking point, then you either need to build more muscle into the function or make a stronger case that what you already have is muscle, not fat. That means showing that ‘muscle cuts’ don’t just remove cost, they remove finance capabilities, and that has knock-on effects in the business. Use evidence, not noise.

Now, I get it. Four reorgs in three years is brutal. It takes a toll. I’ve been through cycles like that, and it feels endless. But that’s exactly why you need to step back and set a new direction.

Start by creating a vision for your finance team. An honest assessment of where you are today, and where you want to be in 3–5 years. And it has to connect to the business strategy. Then ask: How do you get there? What’s missing - technology, people, relationships - and how do you go about closing those gaps?

You’ll say you don’t have time. But you control the agenda for your team. Carve it out. Use the “fifth week” in a five-week month. Take your leadership team offsite for a weekend. Press pause. Break the cycle.

And for you personally? Protect some non-negotiables. Ringfence time every week to get above the firefighting. Without that, the hamster wheel will grind you down just as fast as your team.

TLDR: The answer lies with you. Your team is looking to you to break the cycle and set a new path. If you don’t, this cycle will simply continue.

A few of the biggest stories that every CFO is paying close attention to. This is the section you might not want to see your name in.

It’s Elon’s world, and his execs are just living in it.

The world’s richest man has been having a hard time hanging onto C-Suite talent lately. CFO Mike Liberatore is out. His departure follows quite closely the exits of general counsel Robert Keele and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, among others.

Chaos is never too far away in Elon’s businesses…

It’s still too early for AI to deliver real ROI in enterprise level businesses. So any consultants who have been out winning engagements on the promise of short term ROI has likely embarrassed themselves.

An interesting case study is about to unfold at Spectrum Brands. After dealing with a hard hit from high tariffs, the company has terminated CFO Jeremy Smeltser without cause in order to cut down on expenses (allegedly). Reading between the lines it sounds like Smeltser had a strong number 2, and the board decided they didn’t need both.

ICYMI, here are some of my favorite finance/business social media posts from this week. In the words of Kendall Roy, “all bangers, all the time.”:

Speaking of crises (the topic of this month’s Playbook series)… This can’t be good.

This isn’t just funny … it’s true.

Let me know what you thought of today’s Mailbag. Just hit reply… I read every message.

On Saturday, I shared my battle plan for CFOs to turn a crisis into an opportunity. In fact, all month long in the CFO Secrets Playbook, I’m going to show you how to turn a nightmare crisis into career rocket fuel. Ready? Check it out now

Disclaimer: I am not your accountant, tax advisor, lawyer, CFO, director, or friend. Well, maybe I’m your friend, but I am not any of those other things. Everything I publish represents my opinions only, not advice. Running the finances for a company is serious business, and you should take the proper advice you need.