Legal and compliance are pivotal parts of business growth, either in matured industries (such as manufacturing, traditional banking) or fast-paced growing industries (such as technology, health innovation). With growing countries (such as Indonesia) catching up with the COVID impact, regulators are keen to revisit regulations to provide ease to the businesses.

The following newsletter is intended to provide a general view of retainer services, especially in relation to corporate matters.

The What

With the needs of legal and compliance assistance, it is common for independent law firms to offer retainer services. Essentially, retainer is designed to provide ease of access to counsel when unforeseen event/needs occurs or to maintain regular updates, with preferable rates.

The Why

Cost control

At the onset, retainer fees are higher compared to hiring in-house counsel. However, the quality of counsel-in-charge under the retainer arrangement should also be considered.

Retainer fees normally consist of a blended rate, which means it covers partners’ and associates’ rates – hence the review quality would be significantly enhanced.

Consistent awareness of regulatory trends

It is not uncommon for regulators to engage counsel when reviewing new regulations and discussing impact of the said new regulations. Hence, counsel could be considered as the party who will receive first-hand information, therefore eventually benefiting the businesses/clients.

Maintenance of compliance

With the rapid progress of regulatory changes and updates, it is expected that changes to legal requirements are unavoidable. This could then be tackled by having retainer services, which would also lead to consistent awareness of regulatory trends and therefore timely adjustment to the trends.

Establishing the Needs of Retainer Service

The following set of questions are our main suggestion when clients request our view to establish whether a retainer service is needed. If the answer to most of the questions is yes, then a retainer is necessary.

• Is there any set of reporting that the company needs to submit on frequent basis, e.g. monthly or quarterly?
• Is there an identified lack of legal and compliance resources within the company?
• Is there any specific business objective that would require clean compliance? For example, planned merger or acquisition or government-to-government deals.
• Is there any identified absence of mitigation plan in the case of audit carried out by regulator?
• Is there an identified gap of legal and compliance standardised approach within the company or the business?

We are happy to further discuss your needs of retainer, and we hope the above provides a clearer picture of the essence of retainer service.

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MURZAL & PARTNERS

For more information, please reach us at Murzal & Partners Law Firm via:

e-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +62 21 29930869
WhatsApp: +62 81211122884

LinkedIn: Murzal & Partners Law Firm

www.murzallawfirm.com

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The foregoing material is the property of MNP and may not be used by any other party without prior written consent. The information herein is of general nature and should not be treated as legal advice, nor shall it be relied upon by any party for any circumstance. Specific legal advice should be sought by interested parties to address their particular circumstances.

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