Recently, at a regional bank’s law department, the billing analyst estimated that 70 percent of the bank’s law firms send a bill monthly. I had thought before then that a higher proportion would hold, but she explained that (1) some firms make a practice of billing quarterly, (2) some firms…
“Insurance defense firms typically have a vested interest in seeing that litigation is as costly as possible. Implicit collusion between defense firms and plaintiff firms is rampant, yet is nearly impossible to discover or prove. Litigation audit firms, and flat-fee billing helps to contain these costs.” This quote came form…
Many law departments should go beyond the typical metrics of concentration of spending or convergence of law firms. A law firm usage map helps. Look at the law firms that were in your top ten of spending for each or any of the past four years. List all the firms…
A recent study among a dozen U.S. law firms showed from a large set of invoices a 50 percent difference between them in blended billing rates. The study looked at nearly $3 million worth of invoices from the firms. It calculated each firm’s aggregate blended billing rate – adding up…
A recent Hildebrandt study, part of a consulting project, found that partner time accounted for about half of all hours, associate time accounted for slightly less, and paralegal time a smidgen. The research on invoices from about a dozen large U.S. law firms included Of Counsel lawyers in “partners” and…
If the estimates of average savings from five cost-control methods, as reported by the 2002 ACCA/Serengetti Survey of more then 250 law departments, are even close to true, the world of law departments would have leaped to put them in play. They aren’t and they haven’t. According to the summary…
In 2001, Merrill Lynch used more than 1,000 law firms worldwide. By 2005, the law department had whittled that number down to fewer than 200 (one fifth or fewer in about four years!). Its top 20 firms today account for more than half its business. [See my posts of July…
Law departments tend to exaggerate the rates at which they believe firms bill them, or at least to mis-state them. The top rates of senior partners stick in the mind, but the blended rate isn’t considered. Be sure to calculate the overall rates you are paying correctly. A survey of…
I have recently worked with two global companies that want to pinch outside counsel fees. What holds them back, however, is a manifest fear of alienating their preferred law firms. These main brand companies’ top lawyers worry out loud that if they push to save a few percent on their…
For several years I have thought that law firms would grant their significant clients discounts of five to ten percent without batting an eyelash. Even more do I suspect this to be true after finding out that a large British firm, having disclosed its financials, battens on a profit margin…