In 2005, the 700-lawyer department of insurer Allstate Corp. slashed its roster of outside law firms from 400 to 13. An article touting Allstate’s success, in Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, May 2007 at 98, states that “preliminary e-billing figures show that Allstate’s average cost per matter was down last year…
A previous post mentioned an effort by Allstate Corp. to find out whether blended rates charged by in their law firms benefit the law department (See my post of May 23, 2007.). The editor’s note that refers to this project, in Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, May 2007 at 8, illustrates…
Allstate Corp. has recently implemented blended rates with several of its preferred providers, according to Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, May 2007 at 8. What struck me more was that Robin Sparkman, the editor-in-chief of that magazine, suggests that the insurance company is to some degree testing this method of cost…
If we round up the usual suspects of policies and practices law departments promulgate regarding outside counsel budgets on matters, who will be dragged in? Here are some of the [lock and] key elements: 1. When in-house counsel should request a budget from an outside law firm; 2. Examples of…
Some law departments have concluded that certain work they pass to outside counsel can be done for a fixed fee. Many varieties of relatively common work have been subject to fixed or capped fees (with a cap fee arrangement, the firm might bill less than the cap amount; with a…
Marilyn Chenault Minot, CEO of Disbursement Management Associates, brought to my attention her article entitled “Lawyers Become Unwilling Bankers” in the Nat. L J., Sept. 2006. I summarize below her comments. Minot explains that the average length of time an AmLaw100 firm is out-of-pocket between payment of expenses and repayment…
Many law firms designate a partner to serve as the liaison between the firm and a major client – a relationship partner. Law departments should do the same, and not just for symmetry. It’s sensible. Someone in the law department should be accountable for how the department interacts with a…
A simplifying assumption of many journalists, consultants and academics about the retention practices of law departments is that a law firm liked by a department can take on more work. Those lawyers who retain law firms know that the world is much more complex. The infinite-capacity assumption does not, in…
Once a law department has chosen a firm to handle work in a certain area, and dropped other firms that had been covering that work, the department’s lawyers and clients attach more to the chosen firm. That firm will get to know more internal clients, will (presumably) arrange for its…
At a recent presentation, a senior lawyer in a huge financial services company described how his department had selected its dozen or so preferred counsel. Starting with an RFP sent to about 35 law firms, the department lopped off contenders in two subsequent stages to reach its current panel of…