“Independent internal investigations are very frustrating for management and in particular for general counsel. Not only can they not be involved, very often the outside lawyers are being paid out of the general counsel’s budget.” The quote is from Dan Bookin, an O’Melveny & Myers partner in Corp. Bd. Mbr.,…
A gathering of inside and outside counsel tackled some of the issues related to value by law firms in litigation, including Requests for Proposal sent to them. An article in the ACC Docket, May 2011 at 130, presented four criticisms, each of which motivated me to respond. “Clients may use…
No, I say, although a purist would say yes. In the 2011 supplement to Bob Haig’s Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, the Section 1:2 addition (at 4) mentions that “Enron’s principal outside counsel [Vinson & Elkins] in the year 2000 reported that seven percent of the firm’s revenue…
An article in the ACC Docket, May 2011 at 58, suggests that law departments might enlist some support when they negotiate fees with firms on major matters. As stated, “Consider whether to have your CFO meet with M&A counsel to discuss anticipated legal fees.” The authors suggest that the CFO…
It was the pusillanimous tone, the tenor of the part on outside counsel expense, the obsequiousness assumed for in-house lawyers that bothered me. An article in the ACC Docket, May 2011 at 56, entitled “100 Issues to Clarify with Your M&A Counsel” sketches a two-lawyer department engaging outside counsel for…
With all the hullaballoo about fees – discounts, fixed, blended, effective, contingent – we have overlooked a much more significant lever to shift costs: the law firm and its staffing and billing practices. A firm’s number of lawyers and its billing ethos go together; bigger firms have a bigger cars…
This is a far out idea, so you level-headed types can pass on by. I unleashed the LinkedIn Labs app for maps on my own network of about 400 people. A nebula blazing with eight colors came back that showed, I think, each contact in my network and their connections…
General counsel who are inclined to transfer matters and service arrangements handled by a partner who moves to another firm should think twice. That would be the advice of Boris Groysberg, Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance (Princeton Univ. 2010) at 8. Based on an…
Than Luu of the Public Law Research Institute published a very informative paper in 1995 on much touted “the litigation explosion” (See my post of May 14, 2005: other findings from Luu’s paper.). Among other points he debunked the unfounded claim about hundreds of billions spent each year on US…
“Would it kill you to say you’re sorry?” blazes the huge type at the top of the Taco Bell ad. Never naming the law firm, the ad starts “The law firm that brought false claims about our product quality and advertising integrity has voluntarily withdrawn their class action suit.” No…