This stunning estimate comes from eLawForum; even more dramatic, the article notes that $210 billion is one-third of the after-tax profits of the Fortune 500. The article in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, Feb. 2008 at 28, explains that the estimate includes defense costs – certainly outside counsel but possibly…
A fascinating article by the President of eLawForum, John Henry, published in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, Feb. 2008 at 28, draws on data from more than 20,000 cases. One conclusion is that US companies allow lawsuits to drag on too long, eating up costs. Earlier resolution would be much…
“Delaying resolution [of a lawsuit] spreads defense costs into next year’s budget. A case with a defense cost of $75,000 per year for three years actually looks better than a case resolved in one year with a $100,000 defense cost.” I don’t know which law departments John Henry, President of…
It is apparently common for a company accused of infringing another company’s trademark to survey shoppers in a mall, known as a “mall intercept.” A mall intercept commonly costs tens of thousands of dollars according to IP Law & Bus., Vol. 6, Feb. 2008 at 10. The article, however suggests…
Practice areas have very different ratios of liability to defense cost, according to research by eLawForum. “In employment and asbestos litigation, the ratio is approximately one-to-one,” which means that for every dollar the defendant corporation pays in settlement [liability costs] it pays one dollar to a law firm representing it…
A puzzle of metrics regarding DuPont’s legal spend now fits together. ACC Docket, Vol. 26, Jan./Feb. 2008 at 72, shows a chart prepared by DuPont that has three columns for each of the years 2002 through 2006. The columns depict DuPont spending on “settlements and judgments,” “outside costs,” and “recoveries.”…
Having written post after post on total legal spending by companies and having tried to cover all the permutations of what can go into such figures, I began to wonder about total legal spending and the revenue of companies. Wondering some more, I formulated a number of reasons why that…
A consultant’s article in Of Counsel, Vol. 27, Jan. 2008 at 8, argues that for several reasons law firms are facing a decline in litigation. Large firms are not referring cases, tort reform is reducing litigiousness, and “there seems to be unwillingness on the part of in-house counsel to go…
Law departments sometimes need to retain experts to testify on their behalf or to serve as fact experts. Fees of experts in major matters can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I ran across a service that helps locate experts, Bench and Bar Experts, which inspired me to…
The received wisdom puts a typical in-house lawyer in the $200 per hour range, with all costs to the company accounted for. That may be a representative figure, but what if we look more closely at a high-ranking lawyer (See my post of July 25, 2007 for some data on…