An article on Requests for Proposals, from InsideCounsel, June 2008 at 64, includes a graphic based on the ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey. The graphic shows “the number of legal departments practicing convergence” as reported in surveys each year from 2000 to 2006. The percentage hovers between 27 and 31…
In January of this year, John Lipsey, VP Corporate Counsel Services at Martindale-Hubble, surveyed thousands of corporate counsel in the U.S. – without regard to whether or not they had a known relationship to Martindale. Some 730 responded. He wrote about the results on the Martindale-Hubble blog. The lawyers ranked…
Only rarely does the decision of a trial court warrant a law department either filing or responding to an appeal. Even then, most general counsel stick with the firm that litigated the case below to represent them on the appeal. Once in a blue moon, however, strategic wisdom persuades a…
An interview of two Eversheds partners, published in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, May 2008 at 27, contains the following statement: “At the end of each dispute we handle that involves fees in excess of £40,000 [about $70,000] we bring in an independent research firm that interviews our clients concerning…
The Magic Circle firm Eversheds recently gathered responses from “the top international law firms as well as 50 of the world’s most prominent businesses.” In a summary of the latter group’s views, published in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, May 2008 at 62, the firm found that “over half (55%)…
“We may want to get to know our clients socially. In fact, many of our client relationships are the result of years of social relationships, through sports or charitable organizations.” Two ideas seem mashed together in this quote by two law firm partners, from Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, May…
A cause of law-firm vulnerability, where a client wields too much clout, is law-department power. Here is what a small item in Law Firm Inc., Vol. 6, May/June 2008 at 14 offers as a way to think about this dynamic, based on the comments of an Altman Weil principal. Ward…
Large law firms, those that have handled many matters of a similar kind, ought to realize that if they extract and analyze cost and timing data for those matters, they will have an edge. The edge would cut on competitive bids, on budgets, on staffing decisions, and on other internal…
At a company I know, roughly sixty percent of the lawyers in the large department manage outside counsel. When I found that out I felt surprised, and realized two things. First, there are no benchmark figures for the median percentage of firm-supervising lawyers. My guess would be that less than…
An admonition in a column of Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, May 2008 at 72, caught my eye. “Tell your outside providers to get in the habit of analyzing and vetting bills before sending them to you.” Well, yes, of course. Isn’t that bit of advice on a par with “Tell…