In its “Management Report 2006,” Team Factors Ltd. presents data from 102 New Zealand corporations. A summary of the report states within those companies median lawyers per 1,000 employees was 6.86. I question the usefulness of such a metric (See my post of June 7, 2006 that criticizes a metric of lawyers per 1,000 employees; yet see my post of Dec. 22, 2005 that refers to 2.55 lawyers per 1,000 US employees.).
The report went one step further, moreover, and shows (at 7) “median legal costs per employee” at [NZ]$1,719. My reservations are compounded. Not only our employees widely variable in number, because of the business models of various companies, but total legal spending is a number that has eluded a standard definition (See my post of Sept. 4, 2005 on the inclusiveness of “total legal spending”.). Combine a spurious metric with an amorphous figure and the resulting data has all meaning sucked out of it.