The number and distribution of law departments. Ron Fox, a career counselor for lawyers, wrote in 1996 that “Of the 40,000 corporations in Massachusetts with 15 or more employees, less than 1000 (about 2%) have in-house counsel.” His data reminded me of several recent items about the number and distribution of law departments (See my posts May 13, 2007 on the number of mid-size companies in Europe with law departments; and Aug. 26, 2006 on large law departments in France; April 13, 2006 on in-house UK lawyers; and Oct. 19, 2005 #2 on in-house lawyers in China.).
High costs of international arbitration. A recent post commented on the costs of international arbitration (See my post of May 4, 2007.) Here are some of the reasons. Often parties have to submit all testimony in writing. There are no depositions, but a person submits a written statement and you can question in court. Also, need expert witnesses because all questions of law are questions of fact. E.g., “what is a breach under Nigerian law” is a question of fact, and you get briefs of experts. At least in some forums, the three-member panel is paid by the litigants – could be $150,000 to $250,000. In a US arbitration, usually three if the case is large, and there is no cap. It is an agreed hourly daily rate.
Unusual attributes of certain in-house counsel. To my occasional comments on notable aspects of individual in-house counsel (See my post of May 3, 2007 and references cited.), I add one more. Wendy Hufford is chief litigation counsel for Cardinal Health (Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, May 2007 at 14). More notably, Ms. Hufford is the mother of no less than eight children.