Intangible assets – trademarks, patents, proprietary processes, among others – account for approximately two-thirds of the total assets of U.S. public companies, according to an article in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, May 2008 at 18. The article even provides a formula to estimate the value of intangibles of a…
Other posts have discussed definitions of core competencies in law departments (See my post of May 23, 2008.) and some consequences of deciding on those competencies (See my post of May 23, 2008.). To complete a triptych of posts, let’s think about one other perspective: Is any specialist lawyer a…
A previous post offers four definitions of core competencies for law departments (See my post of May 23, 2008.). What difference do the definitions make? Many, I submit. First, however, a comment on legal-team size. Is it possible for small law departments, say those with two-to-five lawyers, to nurture core…
A scattering of posts discuss the general notion of core competencies as applied to law departments (See my posts of May 14, 2005: Bain’s survey of management tools and June 9, 2007: a more recent Bain survey.). A couple offer specific instances (See my posts of Sept. 21, 2005: a…
Research at various manufacturers has shown that as production doubles, the hours required to make something falls by a fairly consistent percentage, on the order of 10 to 30 percent. As volume builds, workers become more productive. Edward Russell-Walling, 50 Management ideas your really need to know (Quercus) at 80,…
A press release, dated March 14, 2008, for two groups, the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA) and Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand (CLANZ), covers their Legal Department Benchmarking Report 2008. The release contains a statement about the top issue facing legal department leaders. “Workload/time pressure is the number one…
The more able your clients are to resolve legal issues, the more your law department can turn its attention to the most challenging and valuable legal tasks. Common names for the constellation of efforts to increase the legal capabilities of clients – client training, provision of resources such as templates…
Good lawyers are good typists. Too bold a claim? If you lack keyboard proficiency, your productivity relative to your peers will lag. Critics – Luddites actually – used to suggest that expensive lawyers spent too much time typing and formatting their documents. You don’t hear that complaint much any more.…
“When correctly implemented, e-billing actually changes the way attorneys and support staff do business. Call it business process reengineering brought down to the legal department.” This optimistic claim comes from Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, May 2008 at 75. Certainly, members of the legal staff do different things with respect to…
Brad Smith, a columnist for InsideCounsel who in his spare time helps out Microsoft as its general counsel, asks this question in InsideCounsel, May 2008 at 8. He notes that in his company more than 1,500 employees maintain blogs [how does Smith know that ?] but he doesn’t out any…