The website of SDD Global sharply criticizes the “P” in LPO. The services provided by companies in that sector go beyond assembly-line repetition. Dare I say to the practice of law? I quote extensively because the point is well made and the appropriateness of other descriptive terminology compelling: “The term,…
A while back, I wrote a few posts about open-office plans (See my post of Sept. 16, 2008: physical layout of offices; and Sept. 30, 2009: hallways, conference rooms etc. of legal departments.). That movement, I sense, has gone nowhere in legal departments. Lawyers don’t like to work in exposed…
A charming and interesting note, from four perspectives, comes from ACC Docket, Nov. 2010 at 10, and online at its website. “Mozilla’s law department includes three lawyers, a paralegal, a host of legal contributors who provide pro bono services, and traditional outside counsel as well.” Wouldn’t all general counsel wish…
Yes, a pit tongue in cheek as there came to mind an image of law departments cutting down the overgrowth of costly patents, and law departments – like St. George slaying the dragon – eliminating shell corporate entities that sap money but add no value. The image shifted to law…
The Wall Str. J, Nov. 23, 2010 at B6, cites data from a research and consulting firm regarding expenditures by the 1,000 biggest US companies on e-discovery. They are expected to spend about $1.3 billion in 2010. According to the cited report, that expenditure equals 7.1 percent of their litigation…
Relish this juxtaposition from an article about electronic exchanges between purchasing companies and selling providers: “Increasingly, companies trade in services, too, placing bids for legal and janitorial work, for example.” The dirty truth is ought. Seriously, are we going to see a surge in online auctions and electronic procurement of…
The NYSBA J., Oct. 2010 at 36, discusses in an article on law schools several industry-wide changes general counsel can agitate for to benefit the profession (See my post of Nov. 1, 2010: broad initiatives of general counsel.). The third change startled me. General counsel should “pressure state authorities to…
Right after reading about the vast number of trees (pages of paper) we consume in offices (See my post of Oct. 7, 2010: 8,333 pages per tree.), I read with fascination about some innovative techniques to preserve ink and save the environment. For example, simply using thinner-lined typeface such as…
Ron Denton, Manager of Legal Businesses Services at ConocoPhilips, explained one of the steps his law department had taken to reduce discovery costs. Speaking at a DataCert conference (Generals of the Revolution), Denton said that they had created the position of document discovery coordinator. “This professional takes charge of document…
One generic estimate for the number of sheets of paper produced per tree is 8,333 (meaning paper without a significant amount of recycled content). This statistic comes from the J. Assoc. Legal Writing Dirs., Fall 2010 at 195. For dramatic illustration, the author took data from 2008 for the more…