A survey conducted by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), reported in ILTA, March 2005 at 12, found that even two years ago many law firms that submitted bills electronically had to comply with systems and procedures of multiple vendors. Some law firms had to cope with as many as…
Research conducted by Eversheds, referred to in a Fall 2006 advertisement, found that in business disputes one in four clients are “now demanding … cost predictability from their external legal advisers.” That figure startles me because no one else has talked about clients insisting on predictability of legal expenses, let…
Promising most-favored nation (MFN) treatment to a client, a law firm commits that the client will be charged on the best terms the firm has agreed to with any other client. To my understanding, MFN agreements govern the billing rates of individual lawyers. The firm says: “The hourly rates we…
As this year draws to a close, law firms mull how much to raise their billing rates – and law departments grapple with whether to accept the increases. One force driving up rates within law firms is likely to be internal calculations about firm profitability – what partners want to…
For several reasons, a law department should include specific historic spending data in its requests for proposals (See my post of Sept. 13, 2006 on the confidentiality of this data.). One reason is that firms that have not worked for the law department know nothing about the department’s spending, so…
Attendees at the General Counsel Roundtable in 2005 sponsored by the Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. and FTI discussed how a virtual team of law firms can help during a major crisis. One law firm could be national trial counsel, supported by local counsel in different states, along with another firm…
Law departments see on some bills and law firm engagement letters (See my post of Nov. 5, 2006 on engagement/retention letters by law firms.), a right asserted by the firm to assess a monthly service charge equal to one percent of all fees and disbursements which are past due. In…
The counterpart of a law-department retention letter is a law-firm engagement letter (See my posts of Aug. 24, 2006 that compare inside retention letters to outside counsel guidelines; Sept. 25, 2006 on the integration of retention letters and other guidelines and tools; and May 19, 2006 on AXA Konzern’s concerns.).…
A study done in 2005 determined how many law firms required its lawyers to bill a minimum of 2,000 hours per year. It found that 24 percent of New York firms, 38 percent of Chicago firms, 57 percent of Miami’s, and 26 percent of Houston’s set such mind-numbing expectations. This…
A previous explanation of total cost of resolution (See my post of Dec. 10, 2006 on TCR with the example of BellSouth.) defines that term to include law department time, outside counsel and vendor costs, client time and costs, and settlement amounts spent on litigation. If a law department has…