A piece in Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, May 2008 at 71, states that law firms should propose set payments every month as an “alternative fee arrangement” for costly, multi-year cases. “This benefits the law firm during the valley times and the client during peak times, and overall is a win-win…
When Johnson & Johnson’s law department got its e-billing system up and running, the department benefited from the “reduction of confusion in payment,” according to Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, May 2008 at 75. The law department finance manager estimated that the department “cut a good month out of the payment…
I spotted in one major law firm’s engagement letter the following language: “Any rebates paid to the firm, based upon travel volume, are used to offset the direct costs assessed us by our independent travel agency.” Doesn’t that statement dance around the obvious question, “What if the rebates are larger…
Counsel to Counsel, May 28 at 19, describes portions of the process Union Pacific Railroad’s environmental group went through to slash the number of outside counsel it uses. David Young, the railroad company’s general solicitor, started by writing approximately 80 law firms that had been representing his company for environmental…
In the course of describing the relationship between NEC Corp. of America and Duane Morris, a firm chosen through a drastic convergence process (See my post of May 5, 2008: from 130 to 5 firms), an article mentions that one of Duane Morris’s employment partners “works closely with the HR…
The North American subsidiary of Japan’s NEC Corporation “whittled its list of law firms from 130 to five” and did so through a competitive process initiated with a Request for Proposal. Counsel to Counsel, May 28 at 4, offers no more about this convergence initiative. On a percentage basis, the…
In short order you can figure out the effective billing rate of your three or four go-to law firms (See my posts of June 13, 2006: comparison of blended and effective rates; and June 30, 2007: whether discounts save money.). In shorter order you can figure out the hourly rate…
We all know about how online sites match people according to various algorithms, and how software matches pre-meds to medical schools as well as new doctors to hospital-residency programs. The mathematician who created the original matching algorithm, University of California professor David Gale, just died. Reading about Gale and his…
“Indian firms are not allowed to have more the 20 partners, cannot advertise their services via websites, and cannot even give someone a business card unless it has been specifically requested.” This quote comes from a recent article in the Economist. To test its accuracy, I searched for Luthra &…
Many observers believe that general counsel, when they retain a law firm for a high profile matter, pay little or no heed to the potential cost. In relation to the risks involved (to companies and to careers), a few hundred thousand dollars, or even a few million dollars, means little.…