Not a fan of time tracking in legal departments, except for limited times and purposes, I question even more internal tracking of time when there are stated expectations of chargeable hours. That practice is problematic for the same reasons that chargeable hour goals at law firms ought to worry law…
One of the speakers at the SuperConference was the general counsel of LG Electronics (US), a $6 billion dollar manufacturer that has only five in-house lawyers. Among their efforts to cope with the flood of work was to set clear boundaries between purchase orders (POs) and contracts. The speaker said…
Here is where this off-beat idea comes from. “An example of a strategy for controlling the predictability of intrusions in organizations is the institution of “quiet time,” whereby members of an organization agreed to a standard period of clock time during which coworkers will not intrude on each other and…
Expectations about what internal audit can do to improve a legal department may be unrealistic. An article in Compliance Week (July 7, 2010) by José Tabuena, senior vice president of governance and compliance with PhyServe Physician Services, gives an example of over-reach. Jose.Tabuena@physerveinc.com “The objectives of auditing the legal department…
The Red Flag Group was praised by a speaker at the InsideCounsel SuperConference. Brian Martin, the general counsel of KLA Tencor explained that his $2+ billion company retained the Red Flag Group to “take all the company’s policies and put them in a common format. They put them on a…
The Red Flag Group was praised by a speaker at the InsideCounsel SuperConference. Brian Martin, the general counsel of KLA Tencor explained that his $2+ billion company retained the Red Flag Group to “take all the company’s policies and put them in a common format. They put them on a…
Treading into an area full of unknowns for me, I note from Exec. Counsel, April/May 2010 at 26, some data about USPTO rates for allowing patents. “The allowance rate varied only slightly from 2005 to 2007, from 55 percent to 52 percent.” However, after a blockbuster decision by the US…
A numeric norm undoubtedly exists between the number of cases handled per litigation lawyer inside and the number of outside counsel managed by the same lawyer. In general, you would expect that the more lawsuits in the dossier of an in-house lawyer the more law firms that lawyer would manage.…
Talking with a client, we developed a set of disciplines regarding cc’s on email messages. They relate to the length, level, importance, and number of people to copy. We came up with these eight ideas. Delegate responsibility to forward. Add to the end of your message the phrase “Copy others…
I have always assumed that a bureaucratic organization stifles creativity, fosters dissatisfaction, and de-motivates employees. Never assume! Some organizational researchers present positive aspects of bureaucracy. It provides guidance for workers, clarifies responsibilities, and reduces stress. This more balanced view is important to bear in mind because all law departments operate…