Almost half of all administrators do not have a separate budget for operations

From the First Law Department Operations Survey, published by InsideCounsel and Blickstein Group with special contributions by David Cambria of Aon, we learn something odd about budgets for operations.

Of the 50 total respondents, 27 answered the question. They split, with 16 stating they have a “distinct budget for operations,” while the remainder said they do not. The categories in those budgets include “compensation, professional fees, IT, premises and equipment, travel & entertainment, and other.”

I note that only half of the administrators with distinct budgets have a category for “premises and equipment” (See my post of Sept. 9, 2008: 34 line items in one law department’s budget, but nothing like “imputed rent”; and Dec. 7, 2008: 52 line items in another department’s budget.). Rental, whatever it is called, ought to be a cost charged to a law department (See my post of Dec. 6, 2007: document management with 15 references.).