Sylvia Nasar describes a remarkable theory and empirical finding by the Nobel Laureate economist, Robert Solow: “Nine-tenths of the doubling in output per worker in the United States between 1909 and 1949 was due neither to the accumulation of physical plant nor to improvements in the health or education of…
An article in the Acad. Mgt. J., Vol. 53 (2010) at 701-722, analyzes why corporate prominence may lead to a higher incidence of corporate illegality. The authors studied 194 S&P 500 manufacturing firms between 1990 and 1999. They searched databases for references to what they defined as corporate illegality and…
It turns out that it may not be at all clear that prospects of change in regulations deter companies from proceeding with their initiatives. Here is how the Economist, Oct. 29, 2011 at 88, summarizes a recent article by a senior Treasury official: “She found no evidence that regulatory uncertainty…
Richard Swenson, a medical doctor, popularized the concept of time margins in the mid-1990s. As described in Benny Tabalujan, ed. Leadership and Management Challenges of In-House Legal Counsel (LexisNexis Australia 2008) at 43, in-house lawyers would moderate some of the pressure on themselves, and be able to get some work…
Major, Lindsey & Africa surveyed inside counsel this spring and released the results in July. One question asked “What percentage of your legal department work is handled by outside counsel?” Almost six out of ten respondents selected “0% – 40%” while two-and-a-half out of ten chose “41% – 60%.” It…
“Increasingly, professional errors – across fields and disciplines – stem not from lack of ability or ignorance, but from ineptitude: situations in which ‘the knowledge exists, yet we fail to apply it correctly.’” In-house counsel should heed this observation, and its follow-on recommendation: use checklists. Checklists have a “forcing function”…
As I wrote recently, a leading provider of contract automation software, Business Integrity, invites legal departments to complete a short online survey (See my post of Oct. 18, 2011: three points regarding contract automation.). Here is the URL. I looked at the survey and noticed particularly one question: “The following…
We constantly hear that change is being forced on law departments because of cost control, technology, and globalization. The third, globalization, looks at the increasing international trade and location of companies and presumes associated complexity or amount of legal services needed. It turns out, however, that law firms who pursued…
Among the tools available to in-house attorneys who strive to protect new ideas of employees is defensive publication. An extended discussion of this technique appears in the “Canadian briefings” supplement, at page 5, to the ACC Docket of September 2011. As I understand it, when a company concludes that an…
Benny Tabalujan, ed. Leadership and Management Challenges of In-House Legal Counsel (LexisNexis Australia 2008) at 14, refers to a survey by Mahlab Recruitment in 2008. Mahlab announced that Australia’s in-house lawyers worked an average of 50 hours a week. Later, in a chapter by the editor, he cites a 2008…