A thoughtful approach to the pricing of external legal services, dubbed “component pricing,” appears in the ACC Docket, Vol. 27, Oct. 2009 at 23. Johnson & Johnson developed the method. Its basic tenet is that unit pricing – a price for a demarcated task – leads to cost efficiencies. At…
Rooting through a set of guidelines for outside counsel, I chanced upon several expenses of law firms that various legal department pronounced were not to be billed. Those included “extensive microfilming,” “continuing legal education seminars,” and “special publications.” I did not realize anyone still microfilms. As to the last two,…
When managing a law firm’s work on a matter, one step is to choose the partner for your matter. Law departments take that right for granted these days. It would be another step to limit how many paralegals, associates, and partners the firm may bill you on the matter. Law…
Why do law firms grant discounts that rise with the volume of fees paid them? Decreases marketing and selling costs. If a law firm spends a certain percentage of its revenue on marketing, that percentage of the fees above a volume threshold represents a savings of no marketing costs. Revenue…
This cost-control measure caught my eye in the outside-counsel guidelines of one company and in the management style of another company’s legal team. It makes sense, to my way of thinking, to have the default method of communication be oral, since talking is much more flexible, quicker, resistant to over-staffing,…
Reflecting on the much-discussed gap between fees paid law firms and value delivered by them, I recalled my wife’s common statement: “Rees, you haven’t kept up with the costs of things.” Every time I gripe about something being expensive — a dinner out, movie, haircut, or pair of shoes —…
Toiling on an article about the bedeviling issue of value from firms, I decided to pull together what I have written about the topic other than those in an earlier metapost (See my post of Aug. 21, 2009: value compared to fees paid with 22 references.). Much has been written…
I like the idea of having a lawyer in the department oversee the relationship with a law firm that handles significant amounts of work (See my post of May 18, 2007: inside counterpart appointed for each major firm; Aug. 18, 2008: BT and its inside relationship partners for key firms;…
Discount arrangements are common, according to law firms and departments (See my post of Dec. 31, 2008: 75% of law firms surveyed said clients request discounts; Oct. 11, 2009: law firms might offer discounts if given chance to work in new area; Jan. 2, 2009: oblique ways to grant discounts;…
Astonishingly, “Linklaters had 200 lawyers on secondment to clients last year—although the figure currently stands at 95.” Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, Oct. 2009 at 80, offers this jaw-dropping figure and adds that “big finance firms such as Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, and Linklaters often have dozens of secondees with…