Think about this question: Are your outside lawyers more effective when they work for reasonably long periods of time on your matters? That is to say, is it better to have four hours billed on one day than one hour billed on each of four consecutive days? Obviously, no flat…
Once a complaint is served on a company, the clock starts ticking. That clock may constrain the ability of a law department to negotiate a bespoke fee arrangement with a law firm. After all, there have to be appearances made and answers filed. Plaintiffs often grant extensions, but one never…
A profile of Mark Chandler, the General Counsel of Cisco Systems, in the Nat. L.J., April 16, 2007, Vol. 29, at 8, describes a thought-provoking possibility. Chandler asked one of Cisco’s primary law firms, Fenwick & West, “to figure out what was the 10% of their work that was the…
In-house lawyers want timely, specific information from law firms, not half-page advertisements, “splashing marketing brochures, newsletters and client alerts,” according to a recent piece in GC Cal. Mag., Sept. 4, 2007. Ads seem more intent on creating a favorable image of the firm – a brand image – than passing…
In several speeches, I have excoriated ten practices that some law departments have effectuated. Here are the ten and some of my blog references regarding them. 1. Mostly seeking discounts from hourly rates (See my posts of June 30, 2007 about how to calculate savings; and May 26, 2007 where…
Law departments often negotiate or demand discounts from their law firms. Sometimes the amounts of the discounts rise, according to the volume of work received from the law department (See my post of Aug. 8, 2006 on tiered discounts from hourly rates.). Because these arrangements are arrived at prospectively, neither…
The findings report from Fulbright & Jaworski’s Fourth Annual Litigation Trends Survey at 20 states that “Half of all respondents in the survey [303 companies] have used fixed fees, but of those, most use them rarely.” Note that it is possible that the question was something like “Have you ever…
A survey of the AM Law 200’s technology managers, reported in Law Firm Inc., Vol. 5, Sept. 2007 at 42, found which e-billing software providers somewhat more than half of those firms use (See my posts of Nov. 17, 2006 about how firms must accommodate multiple e-billing packages; and Feb.…
My article on how to craft more effective requests for proposals appears in Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, Sept. 2007 at 84. The more I consult to RFP projects, the more I realize you have to tell law firms fairly precisely what you want back from them. Open-ended questions such as…
The 2006 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey gathered some metrics on prompt-payment discounts. Approximately one out of seven law departments received some discount from their law firms for early payment of the firms’ bills. Even that minority, however, receives such discounts from only about one out of five of their…