Litigation up, or perhaps down, during a recession. “During an economic recession and certainly during this one, litigation revenues can be expected to increase as a percentage of the firm’s total revenues” (See my post of June 28, 2009: spending on litigation ranked dead last in terms of likely to increase.). Whichever view may be correct, the next question has to do with lag times (See my post of March 15 2005: lag and lead times in outside counsel spending.).
Historicism applied to law departments. Johan Åhr’s article in the J. of the Historical Soc., Vol. 9, June 2009 at 161, concerns Primo Levi Levi. Levi disagreed with the notion of historicism, which Åhr defined as “a theory that events are determined or influenced by conditions and inherent processes beyond the control of humans” Anti-historicism is a “skepticism toward any abstract, imposing generalization about the character and trajectory of society and history.” That management views and techniques evolve for in-house legal groups does not mean that the changes evidence the inexorable march of larger forces or toward better management (See my post of Dec. 2, 2008: change among law departments is not teleological, toward an improved end.).
High costs of ex-pat lawyers. Inside Counsel, June 2009 at 55, informs us that “ex-pats usually get two times the basic salary they would receive in a comparable U.S. job, plus other compensation such as school tuition for their children and tax equalization payments” (See my post of Jan. 12, 2009: ex-pat lawyers and their costs, with 7 references.).
Feedburner insights about who reads what on this blog, and how often. Feedburn reported that during the first 15 days of July, this blog averaged 551 “subscribers”; 108 “reach”; 2,198 “raw hits”; 258 “clickthroughs”; and 718 “impressions.” I have drawn on Feedburner before (See my post of March 4, 2007: highest page rankings; Jan. 13, 2008: topic categories that most interest readers; March 30, 2008; 300 subscribers; March 1, 2009: 440 subscribers and top ten aggregators; Jan. 25, 2009: “Uncommon Uses”; March 9, 2009: statistics for two year period to February 2009; and June 15, 2009: most viewed posts.). Apropos tools, I searched on Google using “link:lawdepartmentmanagementblog.com” and found 917 hits on July 18, 2009.