All manner of enterprises make a living off law departments. I term the teeming community the “cottage industry” and have picked out parts of it from time to time to highlight (See my posts of April 18, 2005; Oct. 18, 2005; May 30, 2006: the revenue that might go to companies that are part of the cottage industry). Listed below are 30 that I have addressed.
ADR (alternative dispute resolution) (See my post of Feb. 7, 2007.).
Auditors of legal bills (See my post of Dec. 4, 2006.).
Class-action claims (See my post of July 14, 2006.).
Consultants on law department management (See my post of Jan. 1, 2008.).
Consultants on compliance, corporate governance, and ethics (See my post of March 28, 2008.).
Corporate governance groups (See my post of July 5, 2006.).
Corporate secretary services and software (See my post of Feb. 14, 2007.).
Corporate secretary portals (See my post of July 19, 2006.).
Court reporters (See my post of July 11, 2006.).
Decision analysts(See my post of Oct. 24, 2005.).
Document assembly (See my posts of Feb. 9, 2006 and Feb. 24, 2007.).
Document discovery (See my post of Feb. 9, 2006.).
E-billing vendors (See my post of July 11, 2006.).
Economic analysis experts (See my post of March 20, 2007.).
Electronic discovery (See my post of Oct. 29, 2007.).
Ethics line third parties (See my post of May 8, 2007.).
Expert witness sites online (See my post of April 23, 2007.).
Legal and compliance training online (See my post of July 5, 2006.).
Legal research (See my post of July 16, 2007.)
Litigation and trial consultants (See my post of July 4, 2006.).
Matter management systems (See my post of July 14, 2006.).
Medical/nurse analysts (See my post of Jan. 28, 2007.)
Offshore providers (See my post of Jan. 28, 2007.).
On-line selection of law firms (See my post of Jan. 20, 2007.).
Part-time general counsel (See my post of Aug. 8, 2006.).
Search firms (See my posts of July 6, 2006; and March 20, 2007 #3.).
Settlement and ADR capabilities online (See my post of Dec. 31, 2006.).
Settlement counsel (See my post of Oct. 20, 2005.).
Writing instructors (See my post of May 13, 2007.).
The law department cottage industry comprises vendors who significantly focus on that market. Following that definition, I would not include coffee makers, airlines, hotels, taxis, or bottled water dispensers, to name a few, because they have ambitions for much broader markets. Other cottages I have yet to blog on include jury researchers, copy services, equipment manufacturers and lessors, stationers, book publishers, CLE services, temporary staff providers, expert witnesses, forensics experts, and many other denizens of the law-department cottage industry.