In 2004, ACC posted a web survey and e-mailed invitations to 33,468 in-house counsel. A summary reported the results from the 1,814 responses. The median number of US-based attorneys was “slightly over 6” while non-US-based attorneys were “less than one.” Corresponding medians for paralegals (3.0) and other legal support staff…
With an increase from the comparable 2001 census of 10.2 percent, the US non-governmental in-house counsel population has grown steadily. (See my post of Sept. 10, 2005 regarding comparative growth rates of the 200 largest law firms and law departments.) The average of 3.05 lawyers per corporation stands higher, I…
This was the result of a study at a bank’s law department. At a consumer goods company, the ratio came in around that figure. At an aerospace company, the number came in about five percent of total outside spend (not including patent and trademark filing and annuity expenses). The vendors…
A reader commented on my post of August 31st about comparing litigation fee burn rates and probabilistic amount at risk. “This is a standard risk management approach when examining potential liability in contract and has considerable merit. But I wonder what you think the ‘cut off’ point is – i.e.…
The most telling and honest benchmark metric for a law department is its total legal spending – its inside budget plus what it spends on outside vendors – divided by its company’s revenue for the year. TLS/Revenue. I set aside the fact that financial companies often use assets instead of…
A recent study found several law department respondents asserting that litigation is becoming more complex. I poked around at this common view in a previous post (May 15, 2005) but thought again about it again, and here will go beyond that post’s indicators. If someone would take 20 cases in…
In the ACCA/Serengeti 2004 survey, the sub-report for one industry that I studied showed data for 30 respondents on total legal spending. Of them, a dozen companies had sales of $100 million or less. Two of the dozen had itty bitty total legal spending, one was typical (around 0.2-3% of…
Lawyers in some countries cost less than U.S. paralegals. I have seen compensation figures for Latin American lawyers, local lawyers not expats, that range around the $50-75,000 mark. In parts of Asia, the figures are comparable, or lower. Because lawyers are not everywhere as expensive, it is better for general…
Despite the over-exposure of convergence, most law departments continue to retain a significant number of law firms. Data from Hildebrandt’s recent law department survey, for law departments with more than $20 billion in revenue, found the first quartile department reported 200 law firms, the median was 301 firms, and the…
More than 248,000 new applications for trademarks were filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year, a 9 percent increase from 2003. (27 Natl. L.J. May 9, 2005 at S1). Aside from the sheer intoxication of this metric, it more usefully serves as an index to the productivity…