Having consulted on quite a few RFP processes by law departments, I appreciate the novelty and the wisdom of a comment made by a website designer. Asked whether she responds to RFPs, she writes “If we’re excited about the project, then yes, we will. But, we’ll have a lot of…
Each year the ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey collects data on how much participating legal departments spend on outside counsel. The median for 2008 was $1.2 million. Thus, of the 390 participants last year who provided data for the previous year, the middle figure, when all their spending figures were…
If a general counsel decided to drop a set number or percentage of the law firms used that were paid more than a de minimis amount, that would encourage better evaluations of firms. In-house lawyers would also more credibly tell the firms they use that the firms must stay on…
The American Lawyer, June 2010 at 15, exposes the plight of King & Spalding in the aftermath of a seeming triumph in an international arbitration. The arbitration awarded the firm’s client (one Waguih Siag) $133 million. Siag settled for less, pocketed $80 million, and “decamped to the French Riviera without…
General Electric’s Brackett Denniston and Alex Dimitrief updated the chapter on billing in Bob Haig’s Successful Partnering series. In one section (14-37) they note that “At GE, we now require our law firms to preface their monthly statements with a table that specifies precisely where a matter stands vis-à-vis the…
I have opposed surcharges by law firms for staff (attorneys and paralegals) they hire for specific projects (See my post of Feb. 16, 2007: American Lawyer survey of law firms on markups of contract attorneys; Feb. 18, 2007: NY State Bar opinion; March 11, 2007: arguments for marked-up expenses of…
I doubt that in-house counsel decide to retain law firms because of inducements firms offer such as secondments and access to knowledge databases. Yet that is precisely what a recent report from Eversheds found, however. “Law firm of the 21st century: The clients’ revolution,” is based on questions asked of…
A survey of French legal departments by Hélène Trink and an executive search firm asked a group of general counsel about their plans in 2010 to pursue alternative fee arrangements (modalitiés alternatives de facturation). Of the 81 general counsel who responded, 18 percent said that hourly billing was sufficient; 44…
Eversheds, the globe-straddling UK firm, has published “Law firm of the 21st century: The clients’ revolution.” Based on questions asked of 130 general counsel and 80 law firm partners, Eversheds concludes that the “current balance of power in the client-lawyer relationship is now with the clients.” What they mean by…
“A typical work flow process might include receipt of the invoice by a billing coordinator, initial automated and manual review against law department billing policies, invoice scanning and matter management system update, routing to the responsible attorney for approval, notification of the business unit, and electronic feed to accounts payable…