An earlier post delved into patent filings as benchmarkable numbers that can lose reliability (See my post of Nov. 22, 2010: degradation of inflated patent metrics.). If a general counsel wants to compare performances, all comes undone if the basis for comparison collapses. The point comes through even more clearly…
Previous posts a month ago explained my ranking of eight countries and 20 industries by “legal intensity.” The ranking accumulated the relative standing of each country’s or industry’s median for four key metrics of staffing and spending (See my post of Nov. 30, 2010: USA in the middle of the…
This year, with my burrowing into benchmark metrics for law departments, I have unearthed a number of clues to the total number of law departments around the world (See my post of Feb. 8, 2010: UK had approximately 130,000 lawyers; Commerce & Industry has 11,000 members; Feb. 16, 2010 #2:…
The best known type of correlation is known as Pearson’s correlation, which tells how much one series of numbers varies as another series varies (See my post of Nov. 9, 2009 #3: varieties of correlation tests for various circumstances.). For example, a general counsel could calculate the correlation between months…
Three times I have referred to a statistical function called a Poisson distribution, yet I have never explained the actual computation (See my post of Jan. 20, 2006: one of many kinds of distributions of numbers; Aug. 16, 2006: predicts likelihood of event during a given time period; and June…
For lack of enough participants, small benchmark surveys can only produce data by broad industries: manufacturing, healthcare, technology, etc. With hundreds or thousands of participants, like the benchmark survey of General Counsel Metrics, the more valuable analysis will go deeper than industries, to what are often called sectors. For example,…
A survey of law departments in the technology industry last year reported revenue supported by each dollar of legal spend. The report provided averages and medians for that figure by three categories of corporate revenue. For companies with less than $100 million of revenues, the average ratio was $33 and…
Robert McNamara, a man criticized for worshipping numbers, spoke at a college commencement about the limits and powers of quantification. “To argue that some phenomena transcend precise measurement – which is true enough – is no excuse for neglecting the arduous task of carefully analyzing what can be measured.” The…
Morrison on Metrics, my column published on Dec. 20, 2010, covers a set of descriptive metrics that are less frequently developed in benchmark reports: inter-quartile ranges, modes, and ranges. To many general counsel this topic may bring back uncomfortable memories of high school statistics, but to others, these indicators of…
The final release of the General Counsel Metrics global benchmark survey will have more than 810 participants. The 105 or so new participants since the last release report a total of 1,920 lawyers, 260 paralegals, and 450 other staff. Inside plus outside legal spending for the new participants in the…