When a lawyer who retains a law firm knows the value of the work the lawyer wants, there should be few gaps between fees charged and fees paid. If the instructions are clear – “Do not spend more than $2,000 on this research/draft/review/deliberation,” how can the firm diverge very far?…
When law firms submit proposals for work, they may suggest a management idea that has merit, but should your law department abscond with the idea if you don’t hire that firm (See my post of Oct. 1, 2005 about the ethics of disseminating good ideas in proposals.)? Hard-nosers say, “Yes,…
The question is, if you are a large law department and you have just installed e-billing, how many people might you require to support that software? Of course, the answer varies enormously, but let’s sketch one scenario for a law department of 20-to-50 lawyers. After the initial setup period, an…
UK general counsel have largely given up trying to reduce spending year-over-year. According to a survey conducted on behalf of the UK law firm, CMS Cameron McKenna, it’s enough to shave some off the spiraling legal spend: compared to a benchmark increase of six percent, a four percent increase is…
Elsewhere this blog has plastered the notion, rashly advanced by others, that legal departments routinely “fire” significant numbers of law firms, including their primary firms. Enough debunking of that myth (See my post of May 27, 2007.). But nothing in this blog has turned the coin over: do law firms…
A recent study, prepared by Commerce & Industry (C&I) and BDO Stoy Hayward, offers many ideas about hourly billing (See my posts of Nov. 11, 2007 for two comments on the study; and Nov. 13, 2007 for two more posts; and Nov. 23, 2007 for a fifth.). Let me advance…
A report released this year by Commerce & Industry (C&I) and BDO Stoy Hayward brought up an interesting point about any arrangement between a law department and a law firm under which the firm will handle all of a certain kind of work for a set fee (See my posts…
According to Barry Fisher, general counsel at SAP Canada Inc., “Many companies are calling upon specialists who offer coaching on how to conduct interviews and expertise in identifying success factors” when the companies select outside counsel. In the next paragraph, from LEXPERT, Vol. 8, July/Aug. 2007 at 63, the suggestion…
In 2006 a major bank paid through its e-billing system more than 800 firms and an average of 17 timekeepers per firm. “Timekeepers” means anyone – lawyers, paralegals, litigation support staff, researchers – who bills time. Of its law firms, however, 40 percent billed one or two timekeepers and 70…
Many law departments may find it useful to obtain information from a set of law firms who might be retained in the future. To speed up the competitive bid processes that are to come, the department might want to gather some demographic and cost information from a number of law…