Hugely expensive lawsuits. “The Bank of Credit and Commerce International’s lawsuit against the Bank of England lasted 13 years and cost some £100m ($196m) in legal fees,” moans the Economist, Feb. 3, 2007 at 62. In this blog’s costly-case contest, Britannia rules! (See my post of June 19, 2006 on other brobdingnagian litigation costs.).
GE’s goals to increase numbers of patent applications. Microsoft’s law department has been under a mandate to increase the number of patents applied for by the company from 2,000 to 3,000 (See my post of Aug. 3, 2005.), so I read with interest in IP Law&Bus., Jan. 2007 at 16, that the CEO of General Electric asked for an increase in the number of patent applications by 30 percent in the last two years. As one reader of this blog noted, quality of patents counts for more than quantity, and quantity can be manipulated.
Early book (1961) on law department management and another 39 years later. Functions of Corporate Legal Departments, by various authors (CEB 1961) California specialty handbook; no. 5 (See my post of Aug. 27, 2005 on other books about law department management.). Barry O’Meara, Insights into Successfully Managing the In-House Legal Function: An insider’s view (Hawksmere 2000).