From 2006 through 2008, voluntary and involuntary departures from Ford Motor’s legal department reduced its lawyer numbers from 200 to 120, a 40 percent slash. During that period, as recounted in Corp. Counsel, March 2010 at 72, the company’s sales collapsed – it lost $30 billion – and it laid…
The instrument costs $495 for individuals, it asks 298 online questions, and it takes about a half hour to complete. Your results come with a one-hour feedback session with a Birkman-trained consultant. This summary comes from Fortune, March 22, 2010 at 48. The management team of a legal department might…
Here are five points that traditionalists might advance against reliance on employees without law degrees for important undertakings. They come from a recent presentation. “Attorneys are ultimately responsible” – but this argument, carried to an extreme, would have only lawyers doing everything, and perhaps only one per matter. “Attorneys are…
Upwards of 80 percent of all US law departments have fewer than 10 lawyers. Even at the top of the range, assuming at least four or five direct reports to the general counsel, none of the other lawyers manage more than one or two lawyers and maybe they share management…
3M has steadily brought patent work in-house, according to Inside Counsel, Jan. 2010 at 43, shifting from about 65 percent of the work done inside to now more than 90 percent. At the same time, the department has “reduced the number of in-house patent lawyers by using patent agents with…
Recent data has appeared on general counsel among the Fortune 250 who do or don’t report to the CEO as well as the compensation differences between the two groups. The analysis comes from Equilar by way of a summary in Inside Counsel, Jan. 2010 at 42. A graphic shows that…
Oodles of lawyers desperately want jobs, it’s a buyers’ market for any legal department that has an opening, and unsolicited resumes and beseeching inquiries flood in to general counsel – or so I thought. Why bother to throw out a line when fish are leaping into your boat? But there…
In an article from HR Mag., Feb. 2010 at 52, on employee engagement, the author mentions that Zappos.com sends around detailed surveys twice a year. The company also relies on “monthly, five question pulse surveys that ask employees to respond to broader statements such as ‘I feel like I’m making…
HR Mag., Feb. 2010 at 31, provides definitions of the two kinds of workers: Contract workers are “workers employed by a company that provides them or their services to others under contract. They are usually assigned to only one customer and usually work at the customer’s site.” As for temps,…
If it’s in the HBR, it must be true. So here are the five from the Harv. Bus. Rev., March 2010 at 24: “Keep people informed, listen, set clear objectives, match the person with the job, and create meaningful work.” How applicable are these principles in a legal department? Keep…