An article in the McKinsey Quarterly, 2008, No. 4, at 131, by two Stanford professors, has much to offer about innovation in an organization. “Learning how to do something new is far more time-consuming than doing what you already know; it requires far more mental effort to be in the…
Having previously depressed everyone with eight downsides, I sanguinely offer ten advantages for general counsel that they might seize as a result of the economic downturn (See my post of Feb. 5, 2009: 8 downsides.). Use the corporate pressure on you to try new law firms and scrape away at…
President Obama and I share an infatuation with our Blackberries. That means I send and receive many e-mails, although nowhere near as many as some in-house attorneys handle. The more adept and efficient we all are with email, the better. Email effectiveness tips have shown up all over this blog…
An invigorating article in the McKinsey Quarterly, 2008, No. 4, at 131, introduces a set of clever ideas that would help law departments implement new practices. The authors, both professors at Stanford University, draw many interesting lessons from a campaign by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. I would like to…
In-house counsel should strive to be competent drafters, at the worst, and skilled prose stylists at the best (See my post of May 13, 2007: writing instructors; Sept. 21, 2005: writing coaches; May 19, 2006: comparative styles of firm lawyers and law department lawyers; Feb. 8, 2006: maximum of two…
A long-time fan of dictation and voice recognition, I couldn’t help but notice a slew of software exhibitors at LegalTech New York who have offerings in that area (See my post of Feb. 23, 2008: dictation with 5 references; April 8, 2008: use commute as time to dictate; and May…
Legal departments have project teams for almost every conceivable task (See my post of Jan. 23, 2008: disaster planning; Jan. 3, 2008: risk management; Dec. 20, 2005: crisis management; Jan. 28, 2008: end-to-end contracts process; and July 3, 2007: morale.). Teams at specific law departments show up in numerous posts…
An article in the ACC Docket, Vol. 30, Dec. 2008 at 50, describes how Fairmont Raffles Hotels International used an online data-room from IntraLinks to enable potential purchasers to carry out their due diligence. More than 150,000 pages of documents were made available to hundreds of reviewers. The article touts…
“When decision rights are not clear or well distributed, every decision tends to get pushed up the hierarchy.” Consequently, if a general counsel does not define the roles and responsibilities adequately for those on the org chart and does not devolve authority and power to them, the top lawyer will…
Starting in early 2006, the General Counsel of Caterpillar (James Buda) asked a senior lawyer to put together a Six Sigma team to focus on a pro bono program for the Legal Services Division (See my post of Feb. 13, 2008: Six Sigma with 18 references.). Because the 180 attorneys…