Paul Lippe, muse and master of Legal OnRamp, wrote a piece about the top ten ways to reduce legal costs. Number ten particularly inspired me to write. “10) Make no small plans. Most cost-savings approaches in law amount to no more than tinkering—arguing whether two versus three associates should attend…
When I came across In-House Lawyer, I noticed Melanie Hatton’s credentials. She is the top lawyer for the UK company Latitude, an online digital marketing company. She started blogging in mid-2009 and has put up 49 posts since then. In Melanie’s words, “I post about legal and business issues that…
My column last week was the most interesting one I have written, from my standpoint. It links two important sources and uses of metrics by general counsel: matter management databases and survey metrics for benchmarks. I tried to estimate the US population doing either one or both and then offer…
The Aug. 2010 MarketView Report of Hyperion Research, “e-Billing and Matter Management Systems for Corporations,” includes a five-page history of those systems. It is a useful summary of where we are in 2011. The comprehensive and detailed report foresees an integration of functions that currently operate from a variety of…
A comparison of legal services provided in-house by lawyers of German companies and U.S. companies picks out several differences. According to page 88 of the General Counsel Benchmarking Report for 2009 by Otto Henning & Co., contract issues (Aligemeines Vertragsrecht) dominate German departments, with 95 percent of them handling it…
Nat Slavin, co-founder of the Wicker Park Group, wrote extensively on his blog about the Wall Street Journal article (Feb. 23rd, page 1) on $1,000 an hour law firm partners. The article evidently disparaged such high priced legal talent, charging them with “taking advantage of companies.” Nat correctly pointed out…
The well-done General Counsel Benchmarking Report for 2009 of Otto Henning & Co. at 64 provides data on the number of lawyers (Rechtsanwälte weltweit) worldwide its benchmark survey participants reported. From the 56 companies in the survey, all from the German Fortune 150, the overall average was 3.5 lawyers per…
Privileged to review a copy of the Aug. 201 MarketView Report of Hyperion Research, “e-Billing and Matter Management Systems for Corporations,” I will write a few blog posts. This post covers several thoughts. First, the 76-page report offers huge value since it not only analyzes the market for licensed packages…
A report based on 2008 data from 56 of the 150 largest German companies produced benchmark averages for paralegals (Rechtsanwaltsgehilfen) and admins (Sekretariatskräfte und weiter Assistenzkräfte) per in-house lawyer. Those departments averaged 0.2 paralegals per lawyer, i.e., five lawyers for every paralegal. US law departments show more leverage, on the…
Coffee, tea, or electricity? From the Daily Stat by Harvard Business Rev., Feb. 22, 2011: “Research subjects who received electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes of the brain were 3 times more likely to come up with the fresh insight needed to solve a difficult, unfamiliar problem than people…