According to surveys, law department managers say they consider a huge array of attributes when they select outside counsel (See my post of Dec. 28, 2006: summary of four surveys and 37 attributes.). Readers can find more on those four surveys (See my post of Oct. 31, 2005: European law…
Compare these 12 points that favor reducing the number of law firms used by a law department to a dozen reasons that oppose convergence (See my post of Oct. 19, 2008: reasons against convergence.). 1. Better service delivery 2. Better billing rates and alternative arrangements 3. Better knowledge of the…
A number of publications rate law firms according to various systems, and I have made observations about them generally (See my post of July 4, 2006: ranking sources of guidance on law firms; July 21, 2005: Zagat-style ratings for law firms; April 6, 2007: risks of crowd-hacking on evaluation systems;…
A very smart general counsel shared with me an iconoclastic view. He argued that excellent partners only bill a fraction of the value they deliver and gave an example. Say your company has decided to buy a company for $100 million. You know partners at two law firms who could…
Lawyers who work for corporations object to convergence programs for many reasons. The ones I have heard include the following, listed roughly in order of their significance. 1. Geographic dispersion of our matters means we need firms admitted in many states and familiar with many courts 2. Complacency on the…
Several managing partners at big law firms moan about the “molasses-paced payment process” at clients. The piece in the Am. Lawyer, Vol. 30, Sept. 2008 at 33, does not distinguish between clients with a law department and clients without, but widespread deliberate delays in paying invoices appears to rankle many…
General counsel often want to know which law firms lead in various practice areas. One source of that information are the many surveys and lists that purport to rank law firms by their experience, capability, and performance. As another resource, Exec. Counsel, Vol. 5, July/Aug. 2008 at 34, declares that…
At a recent panel, general counsel from several small law departments dumped on RFPs. As described in the Legal Intelligencer, Oct. 3, 2008 (by Zack Needles), one of them is put off by the “dog-and-pony show” aspect of presentations. Another panned bait-and-switch tactics. A proponent of RFPs, I read this…
A general counsel on a recent panel criticized what he called a “centralized attorney structure,” where all communication must go through the relationship partner of the law firm. That hub structure is especially inefficient if the partner is not personally handling a fair portion of the legal work. As this…
Many posts on this blog give insights into how law departments attempt to regulate the wallet-busting costs of patent litigation. A previous post pulled together 13 comments on costs (See my post of Oct. 2, 2008: patent litigation costs; July 21, 2005: an update on patent litigation costs; and Jan.…