In-house counsel who need to present complicated material to clients or outside counsel should consider the advantages of a plotline. As a visualization tool, timelines leave much to be desired (See my post of Feb. 16, 2008: flowcharts and summaries.). “A plotline is more challenging to the audience. But, it…
Many blogs and websites cite to Law Department Management Blog, 27 of which I have previously thanked (See my post of June 17, 2009: 14 blogs/websites that have directed readers here; and June 26, 2009: 13 more referral sources.). During the past two weeks, another thirteen saw fit to acknowledge…
Since my previous post on the advantages and disadvantages of fifteen practices (See my post of March 23, 2009: pluses and minuses of 15 practices.), I have accumulated a dozen more debate posts. Break-outs or plenary sessions at large meetings (See my post of April 25, 2009: meetings and smaller…
A game created by two professors pitted teams against each other to create a strategic plan for a mythical law firm. Why not do this for a legal department? According to Strategies: The J. of Legal Mkting., Vol. 11, July 2009 at 20, Indiana University’s Mauer School of Law Associate…
Johan Åhr’s article about Primo Levi in the J. of the Historical Soc., Vol. 9, June 2009 at 161, discusses historicism and broad statements. Historicism is “a theory that events are determined or influenced by conditions and inherent processes beyond the control of humans.” Marxism, for example, espouses a dialectic…
Of the dozen “strategies” ranked by legal managers in terms of frequency, no unusual actions stand out, until the final three. As expected, the LexisNexis CounselLink study, entitled “Effects of the Current Economic Downturn on U.S. Law Departments” 2009 at 9, found that its 191 in-house respondents in-source work, ask…
I keep wrestling with how to differentiate “tools” from other management ideas for general counsel, such as “concepts,” and “processes.” While pondering the distinctions, I realized a fourth category exists, which I have come to call “concept toolboxes.” A concept toolbox comprises many aids and instruments – tools in the…
A recent piece in the Daily Report, June 12, 2009 by Katheryn Hayes Tucker, provides four items that add to our understanding of Six Sigma principles deployed in corporate legal departments (See my post of Feb. 13, 2008: Six Sigma with 18 references.). The Home Depot and ING are adherents…
Some 14 referral sources are mentioned and thanked in a previous post (See my post of June 17, 2009: 14 referral sources in two days). Since then I have been collecting additional ones, and I also am grateful to them. adriandayton.com (Adrian Dayton) inhouseaccess.com/ (ACC) ip-info.blogspot.com/ (Toy-san) www.integreon.com/blog (Integreon, Ron…
“I conclude that I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe but because I want to know.” The quote, with the italics, is from Michael Shermer, the columnist in Scientific Am., Vol. 301, July 2009 at 33. As a kindred skeptic who wants ever so much to…