The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, in partnership with the law firm of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, asked its members about the advantages of working within a company over working in a law firm. It gave the respondents a dozen items and asked them to rate the items from 0…
A disturbing finding surfaced in the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association survey of its members for the 2007 In-House Corporate Counsel Barometer, at 4. Based on 722 responses, the report concludes that “in-house corporate counsel are still on the fence about whether or not they are losing touch with the practice…
Data from the Inside Counsel, April 2000 at 60, shows that general counsel compensation rises steadily if you compare positions in companies that have increasing amounts of annual revenue. From an average of $291,000 for companies with revenue of $300 million or less through $380,000 for companies with revenues of…
Corporate Counsel reports that Accenture’s legal department has teamed with DLA Piper, one of its 25 primary law firms, “to share several summer associates this year, and give them a taste of in-house life.” This sentence from Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, May 2007 at 96, makes me wonder whether Accenture…
At offsite retreats or for special occasions, law department members often receive items that memorialize the event (See my post of Sept. 22, 2005 on memorable retreats, and my article.). During my consulting odyssey, I too have collected my share of these corporate trinkets. Some that come to mind, and…
Underpaid in-house lawyers who retain highly-paid partners marvel at whopping figures of profits per partner (See my posts of March 6, 2006 on international comparisons; and Aug. 26, 2006 about “Law firms make too much.”). Aside from income envy, many people attribute high intelligence to those with high earnings. That’s…
When you reflect on small law departments, ones with fewer than five lawyers, you realize that their hiring practices differ markedly from those of large law departments. Consider the law department of the real estate investment trust, COPT, which has four lawyers, as described in GC Mid-Atlantic, March 2007 at…
I heard a new twist on sources of hires (See my post of March 26, 2007 with statistics on various sources.). A company I know is a major player in a health-care industry. Its general counsel has found it too difficult to recruit lawyers from the few other law departments…
A piece in Business Week, May 21, 2007 at 88, bemoans the penchant for many hard-working Americans to forego chunks of their vacation days. The article cites statistics about what percentage of executives bank more and more vacation days – or lose them – as they pride themselves on being…
A managing attorney from an insurance company’s law department explained at a panel a recent initiative. Her department undertook to identify 20 activities that lawyers were doing but which they could pass on to a paralegal, administrative assistant or other support person. To the surprise of management, it proved easy…