If your law department sends a substantial amount of work to a firm, and expects to do so for several years, that firm should appoint a relationship partner. The relationship partner makes it her business to know about how the firm is serving you, what problems have arisen, how to…
For some years corporate managers of IP litigation debated whether to use IP boutiques or full-service firms. Given the results of research by IP Law & Bus., July 2005 iplawandbusiness.com, mergers of boutiques may be mooting that question. Of the 16 law firms that filed or defended the most patent…
If a law firm agrees to give a law department a larger discount when the fees paid to the firm exceed a certain level (for instance, 5% up to $500,000 and then 7% for fees paid over that amount), does the higher discount apply retroactively to the initial payments? Obviously,…
A major company in the southeast has all of its law firms that handle appeals provide their services at a fixed rate. Not the same fixed rate for each appeal, but each appeal is handled on its own negotiated fixed fee. A UK-based law department has negotiated flat fees for…
A term I learned consulting to an aerospace company’s law department – “competimates” – captures the duality of law departments competing with law firms. A company could outsource much or all of its legal work to external counsel, or could bring work inside, so law firms have to pick up…
When law departments know that their companies have very little ability to raise prices, it galls their in-house lawyers to watch outside counsel raise their billing rates, where it seems to those in-house that the rate raises are almost as a matter of expectation – one more year, another six…
During a recent webinar, a law firm partner rued the difficulty of assuring clients “our best rates,” especially when discounting is rampant. Within a large law firm, it is nigh unto impossible to know the different permutations of rate cutting – and then how do you handle amounts written off…
In mid-2005, Bottomline Technologies surveyed the Fortune 1000 companies and AM Best 200 insurers. Of the 1,892 individuals sent e-mail surveys, close to 200 responded. Bottomline’s Thomas Gaillard reported some of the results at ACC’s 2005 Annual Meeting. Given five tools for measuring law firm performance, the respondents indicated the…
A previous post (Sept. 5, 2005) explained Citigroup’s view that the number of timekeepers at a firm makes a major difference in the firm’s cost effectiveness. Based on data presented at ACC’s 2005 Annual Meeting for its 100,000 North American property and casualty claims, AIG used 2,000 law firms and…
In mid-2005, Bottomline Technologies, the provider of eXchange, surveyed the Fortune 1000 companies and AM Best 200 insurers. Of the 1,892 individuals sent e-mail invitations to participate, close to 200 responded. Thomas Gaillard of Bottomline reported some of the results at ACC’s 2005 Annual Meeting. Asked to rate their company’s…