Many surveys by law departments ask for answers on a scale that moves from negative scores to positive scores. For example, 1 (hate), 2 (dislike), 3 (neutral), 4 (like) and 5 (love). The analytical tool, “net scores,” displays the combined effect of related scale scores. Net scores are calculated by…
One would hope that the law department integrates its retention letters (See my post of Aug. 24, 2006 that compares these to outside counsel guidelines.), inside guidelines (See my post of Aug. 8, 2006.), and outside counsel guidelines (See my posts of Aug. Aug. 1, 2006 that wonders about their…
US law department managers loosely use the term “international,” as in, “We do a lot of international work in-house.” It’s sloppy thinking to call a sale of goods and services to a purchaser in another country, for that reason alone, an “international transaction”; only if the governing law is other…
If something a law department does accomplishes the objective, what was done was effective. For example, if a department cross-trains paralegals, who are thereafter able to do the second job, the effort was effective. Or if the department negotiates a discounted billing rate with a firm, that was effective. A…
Consultants, vendors, law departments, and information technology staff of corporation have devised several tools for law departments to learn about technology. In Metropolitan Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, Sept. 2006 at 48, Joe Fantuzzi, CEO of Workshare, confirms this point. More, he describes a specific tool. “Internal surveys of what is…
Among the vendors of matter management systems for law departments (See my post of July 14, 2006 with a list of several), perhaps all of them host periodic conferences for their users. So-called user groups let licensees share ideas about how best to use the software, share customized reports, and…
Metropolitan Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, Sept. 2006 at 22, has an article by Scott Wirtz, Controller of the US law firm Loeb & Loeb, about electronic legal invoice delivery. Wirtz points out several of the ways e-billing systems can check bills for compliance with a law department’s policies. The software…
Scattered posts discuss what I call the “law department cottage industry,” all the goods and services providers – other than law firms – who earn a substantial amount of revenue from or through law departments (See my posts of April 2, 2005 about unbundling services of law firms; Sept. 13,…
A few law departments have asked their law firms to speak to the relationship between firm and department and how to improve that relationship (See my post of May 17, 2006 on Exelon). Whether law firm partners bare their souls to those who pay them I doubt (See my post…
Security of legal documents – protection against hackers, phishers, and unauthorized eyes – concerns law departments. Nowadays, most law departments make their lawyers keep track of several IDs and pass codes, the prevailing method of protection (encryption being another), so that sensitive documents and data are safe. Researchers have developed…