Two more thoughts, after my rant on reserve setting and law firm budgets. A transportation company law department I consulted with negotiated a deal with the Finance Department. “If we can invest in a better matter management system, which thereby reduces our projected litigation expenses, and you can then release…
I was thinking about Merck setting reserves of $675 million to fight Vioxx lawsuits and comparing it to the difficulty of law firms that whine if asked for budgets. Here is a company facing an unprecedented legal onslaught – at least for it and for this class of painkillers –…
Law departments ought to look at their litigation costs in terms of potential liability (or actual once a case closes). Knowing that correlation might change defense strategy. A recent Foley & Lardner web conference (July 2004) reported some data from the American Intellectual Property Law Association. “The average cost of…
All of this hubbub about offshoring has significance for law departments, despite the hype. A fair number of activities done by inhouse lawyers could be done in low-cost jurisdictions, assuming telecommunications, English, training, and some patience. If there is a US paralegal, why not an Inian lawyer? If advertising review…