It sounds so simple: “Let’s get discounts from our law firms!” What all that request sets in train, however, may not occur to a general counsel. The partner at the law firm requested to discount its rates may have to obtain approval from a management committee. The new rates may…
When a number of law firms propose to handle one or more matters of a law department, through a competitive-bid process, it can be a challenge to choose among the firms. Usually the firms answer a number of questions, some of which are objective – number of lawyers, diversity percentages…
A general counsel at a FTSE 100 company told the authors of an article in legalweek.com, November 27, 2006 of receiving more than 30 updates on Three Rivers [an important House of Lords decision], “but not a single one told them what the impacts might be for his company.” As…
Allow me to be hard-nosed. No law department should have the slightest compunction about not paying for the training of associates at law firms. Especially is this true given the horrendous turnover rates of associates; the department often does not receive a return on its training investment. Yes, yes, if…
Ellen Metzger, the general counsel of MacKay Shields, a registered investment advisor for institutional investors, makes a provocative remark in top of mind, Vol. 5, 2006 by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham at 12. Metzger says: “Don’t insult the professionalism of the lawyer’s firm by referring them a project and…
According to top of mind, Vol. 5, 2006 by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham at 10, ADVO, a $1.5 billion direct mailer, has only a single in-house lawyer: Vice President, Legal Affairs, David Hennessey. At revenue approaching two billion dollars, a US company typically houses three-to-eight lawyers. Evidently, management of…
After a British law department selects a panel (See my post of April 18, 2005 on the term “panel.”) it lets the world know. US departments who choose primary firms, by distinction, tend toward reticence. Why the cross-Atlantic divide? In the US, DuPont has famously marketed its Primary Law Firms…
Sample this tasty morsel from the Delhi! Squabbles between companies and their law firms over costs erupt everywhere! Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) has terminated its legal consultant, the solicitors Crawford Bayley & Co, and contested the payment to them of no less an amount than Rs…
There are a baker’s dozen ways to analyze your law firms’ invoices described in my recent article in Legal Times, Vol. 29, Nov. 26, 2006. The article suggests eight calculations you can do with the invoices of a single law firm and five more calculations based on invoices from several…
Based on 165 responses to their survey this fall, Altman Weil and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubble produced data on ten criteria those law departments apply when they evaluate their outside counsel. From the 2006 Law Department Metrics Benchmarking Survey (at pg. 230) the five most important evaluative criteria are reported as “results”…