Harvard Pilgrim’s general counsel, Laura Peabody, explained her law department’s retainer agreements. Speaking at a panel covered by the Nat’l Law J., Dec. 12, 2008, Peabodyexplains that “she has a labor and employment boutique and an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) boutique on a monthly retainer so that her…
Law departments may establish budgets for specific matters handled by outside counsel. However, many times in-house counsel call a partner for short or general advice. Those calls can mount up to significant bills and it makes sense to budget them. Doing so, however, raises issues of whom to hold accountable…
Jane Genova a writer/marketer and host of the blog Law and More, misconstrued a recent post by me (See my post of Jan. 2, 2009: oblique discounts.). There I cited a study that suggested quality brand companies might be reluctant to discount their prices, but might indirectly give customers economic…
According to IP Law & Business’ research last year, “IP specialty firms accounted for only four of the 31 firms that handled three or more IP litigation matters in the U.S. for the world’s 50 most innovative companies.” Research this year confirms the pattern: “of the 22 firms that handled…
“The price of something is often an important determinant of its perceived value, as Dan Ariely points out in Predictably Irrational.” Two writers add in the Harv. Bus. Rev., Vol., Vol. 86, Dec. 2008 at 31, “If you discount prices purely to boost sales, buyers may begin to question that…
Regular visitors to this blog know that I periodically collect posts on a similar topic into what I call metaposts. With some 220 of them in hand, I venture here to raise mere metaposts to hyperposts level. Is the blogging world ready for another neologism: hyperpost? This hyperpost collects eight…
Many posts have appeared on this blog about guidelines for outside counsel (See my post of July 11, 2008: guidelines for outside counsel with 16 references; and Aug. 5, 2008: reservation of rights to review bills.). Those musings and my recent consulting projects led me to write about five problematic…
General counsel have squeezed to wring out law firm expenses, but new data suggests the sponge will keep expanding. The American Lawyer obtained survey responses from managing partners and firm leaders at 112 US law firms, Am. Law., Vol. 30, Dec. 2008 at 93. “Ninety-eight percent of respondents to our…
“Firm partners are commonly consulted when a company is considering shipping tasks overseas because, whether it’s patent research or litigation support, they have to work with the product that offshore shops like UnitedLex Corp. or Pangea3 LLC deliver.” The quote comes from an article of Corp. Counsel, Dec. 22, 2008…
Nothing good for general counsel can come from retained firms that set billable hour minimums (See my post of Nov. 8, 2005: Altria and its 200-hour monthly maximum; Oct. 20, 2005: ask for total hours billed in a month by key lawyers; June 22, 2008: in the office 60 hours…