Some things to do differently on the second iteration of a fixed-fee arrangement (Sept. 5, 2011)
Four recommendations for what to do differently to improve the second process and outcome.
Social-choice theory, Arrow’s impossibility theorem, and group decision-making (Sept. 5, 2011)
Kenneth Arrow laid down five elementary axioms that any rule defining the preferences of a group should satisfy and proved that they are logically inconsistent with each other.
The way we learn about law department operations: a succession of explanations conjectured, tested, and improved (Sept. 12, 2011)
Explanations come about because people conjecture them regarding objective reality.
What pace of productivity increases might reasonably apply to legal departments – one percent a year? (Sept. 12, 2011)
During the 20 years from 1987 to 2008, U.S. manufacturers increased productivity at a cumulative annual growth rate of 1.6 percent. The entire private business sector only managed a 1.0 percent rate, which means service-sector productivity barely rose year over year. Law departments may have fared the same.
Getting the Deal Through (GTDT) and its offerings of global legal information, free for in-house lawyers (Sept. 13, 2011)
This London-based company’s website provides in-house counsel with summaries of laws and regulations in 43 practice areas and more than 120 jurisdictions.
Another foray into the definition of legal complexity – three features (Sept. 14, 2011)
A three-part definition of complexity applied to the workload of law departments.
In re Posner: ten-year term limit for general counsel? (Sept. 16, 2011)
What a change if the top position had a term limit of a decade.!
Unstated consequences or assumptions whenever we measure something in a law department (Sept. 21, 2011)
Ten effects from a decision to count and track something.
Just what are “mobile apps” and how might they infiltrate law departments? (Sept. 26, 2011)
“A mobile ‘app’ is a piece of software linked to a smartphone [such as a Droid or iPhone that has computer capabilities] that allows its user to perform any number of functions.”
Attitudes toward law firms publicizing work they have done for a law department (Sept. 27, 2011)
Some law departments are more tolerant of publicity.