How NEXT Insurance Expanded Its Defense Counsel Network Through the Marcus Evans Summit

A Marcus Evans Success Story

“The Marcus Evans Summit has provided us an opportunity to meet many law firms with the expertise we needed. Those introductions have led to the addition of several firms to our defense panel,” said Christian Grofcsik, Associate General Counsel, NEXT Insurance, a delegate at the Marcus Evans Chief Litigation Officer Summit.

What new opportunities did the Summit bring your way?

We found a few law firms that we have since hired and continue to use, and business solutions that have led to efficiencies and cost savings for us. We need several law firms in every jurisdiction, as the need for litigation is growing just as fast as our business is.

Had you heard of or worked with these law firms before the Summit?

No, I had not heard of them, and they had not approached me. They were completely cold meetings. Some were located in jurisdictions that I had historically not had an interaction with. They were outside the geographic areas I was familiar with.

These are now ongoing relationships. Each firm has received at least one case, and some firms even several cases from us. That is likely to increase as our business continues to grow.

The Summit allowed us to fill some gaps we had in our network. By coincidence, we later discovered that we had some mutual contacts.

Would you have ended up hiring them anyway, if they had approached you on their own?

No. I receive many unsolicited calls from firms. We have been trying to develop a panel of counsel through referrals as we have very high standards. We are trying to vet to some degree before we bring any firms.

Although the firms we met at the Marcus Evans Summit were not delivered to us by referral, I was able to meet the firms one-on-one and get to know them. The setting allowed us to get a feel for the group and determine whether we would be a good fit together.

We were fortunate to find that Marcus Evans had brought some very good firms that we could then vet after the meeting, firms that would not have gone through that process with us had they tried to reach out through a cold call.

With cold calling, I do not know where the person is calling from or their background. I do not engage with people who send me emails out of the blue. It is simply an oversaturated way of reaching out, so I tend to ignore those messages.

When we were making our meeting selections, I had a strong preference for locations where our existing network could not provide referrals. That was very helpful.

Did the Summit allow these firms to skip ahead a few steps or overcome obstacles to get on your radar?

Absolutely. They did overcome that obstacle. They skipped that initial threshold where I try to get everyone through a referral. That was exclusively because we were able to meet them in person.

How do Marcus Evans Summits compare to other industry events?

Other events also have vendors, but I always feel that the content is useless or very geared towards sales. The content at the Marcus Evans Summit was interesting and educational.

I heard how my peers were solving similar challenges that I had in my own business. That was truly unique and special about the format.