You can get your first edition of the 60-page global benchmarking report from General Counsel Metrics, LLC, if you click here to submit your data or click on the display in the upper right corner.
The first release – followed by new ones monthly during the summer and fall as more law departments take part – covers 455 law departments from 35 countries and across 19 industries. Those departments had at the end of 2009 an average of 27.9 lawyers and 21.5 other legal staff. In total, they had 12,700 lawyers and 9,800 other legal staff. The smallest quarter of the group, roughly 110 departments, reported from 1 to 3 lawyers. The next larger quarter reported more than 3 lawyers but less than 8. The next quarter had 8-25 lawyers while the largest had from 26 lawyers to well more than 500.
The participants’ total legal spend in 2009 was an astounding $11.8 billion in support of their aggregate corporate revenue of $3.0 trillion.
One quarter of the participants reported revenue between nothing (not for profits) and $200 million. One quarter reported revenue greater than $200 million but less than $1.5 billion. In the third category of revenue size, are companies with revenue between $1.5 billion and $6.5 billion; the remaining 90 or so companies reported revenue above $6.5 billion.