Articles Posted in Thoughts/Observations

Some legal departments invite to their retreats two or three clients or two or three law firm partners to take part on a panel discussion. Usually, someone moderates the panel. These suggestions for those moderators come from my experience on many panels, both as moderator and as speaker.

1. Send questions ahead of time. Panelists may never look at them, but some will and they will be better prepared. Besides, the questions equip you to lead the panelists and fill in the voids.

2. Have a conference call beforehand with the panelists, or at least convene just before the session, to work out logistics such as introductions, mikes, how to handle questions, etc.

Ten more embedded metaposts (See my post of May 8, 2009: Part XXXI.), each adorned with the number of back references.

1. Chargeable hours inside (See my post of May 21, 2009: internal chargeable hours with 12 references.).

2. Contingency fee arrangements (See my post of May 12, 2009: contingency (conditional) fee arrangements with 10 references.).

100 online resources on offshoring. A Canadian collaborative law blog, Slaw touches on LPO often, especially in this article: “LPO Provides a Positive Boost for Economy in Recession.” http://www.slaw.ca/about-slaw/ This blog, not listed by me previously (See my post of Jan. 18, 2009: 15 legal offshoring blogs.), comes from oDeskBlog.

Poor use of in-house legal energy, courtesy of Twitter. “ImAPosTaLKiDd: okkkk the legal department from the United States Postal Service voiced a complaint to twitter regarding my account name! IMAPOSTALKIDD” I found this gem on Twitter after I searched the term “legal department” on May 19, 2009. At the risk of losing my franking privilege, let me be frank. Surely, the United States Postal Service’s in-house team has better uses of its time than to try to lick variations on “going postal.” Second, I say “Free the PosTalKiDd One!”

Formal models we can only dream about: mathematical, computational and logical. “In mathematical models the researcher begins by outlining a set of mathematical conditions that describe the phenomenon of interest and then uses mathematical proofs to demonstrate propositions that follow from them. In simulations (also known as computational models) the theorist similarly writes a set of conditions that represent the assumptions of the model, but instead of validating applications by analytical prince, he or she generates outcomes computationally across ranges of values for the parameters that determine these outcomes. By formal logic, meanwhile, the researcher translates natural language assumptions into statements in symbolic logic and then uses methods such as truth tables to prove the propositions implied by those statements” (See my post of May 15, 2005: Monte Carlo simulations as computational models.). Compared to verbal theorizing, a natural language approach, these three methods have (1) precision and transparency, (too close friend logical consistency, and (3) an ability to identify unanticipated implications. This heady material comes from the Acad. of Mgt. Rev., Vol. 34, April 2009 at 202. Law department modeling is a long, long way from these sophisticated tools.

Time management training. Two speakers on a panel at the SuperConference www.insidecounsel.com/superconference said that they had arranged time management training for every member of their department (See my post of Feb. 16, 2006: solo lawyers in-house must particularly attend to how they use their time.).

No performance evaluations at Apple’s legal department! During a panel at the SuperConference, someone in the audience volunteered that Apple’s law department does no performance ratings. That company, or that general counsel, believes ratings are driven by the need to back up decisions to fire people, and otherwise are demoralizing and not useful (See my post of Sept. 21, 2008: annual reviews and evaluations, with 12 references.).

Sociology of law. In the words of Citizendium, “Sociology of law is a diverse field of study which includes social scientific investigations of the institutions of law, the professionalisation of law and lawyers, the social construction of legal issues and systems, and the interaction of legal institutions, doctrines, and practices with other aspects of society.” I’m still not sure, but perhaps this blog is a small minnow in the vast school of legal sociology (See my post of Feb. 25, 2009: academics with 16 references.).

It is with the greatest honor and humility that I hereby present for your delectation the most current embedded metaposts (See my post of April 27, 2009: Part XXX.), each of which bijou unveils the number of references cited within.

1. Billing rates (See my post of May 3, 2009: billing rates other than increases and fees, with 32 references and 8 metaposts with references.).

2. Burn rate (See my post of May 3, 2009: burn rates of outside counsel with 6 references.).

The fate of a general counsel and his blog. With the purchase of Sun Microsystems by Oracle, will General Counsel Michael Dillon’s blog fall silent (See my post of Dec. 16, 2008: 13 corporate law department blogs.)?

Non-compete restrictions on in-house counsel. “As a general rule, in most states, an employment agreement with a general counsel or in-house lawyer (or any attorney for that matter) which attempts to prohibit the lawyer from joining a competitor as a lawyer is probably unenforceable.” From the blog, General Counselor (See my post of Feb. 4, 2006: non-competes in New Jersey and in-house counsel.).

Severance packages for lawyers laid off. Zusha Elinson, The Recorder, April 24, 2009, writes that BEA lawyers got a severance package — one year for vice-presidents and above and six months for more junior lawyers. But that was because of a change-of-control clause written in by BEA, not Oracle’s generosity (See my post of Dec. 20, 2005: a general counsel sues for severance payments; and Jan. 27, 2006: a law department includes severance costs in its budget.).

Here are the latest embedded metaposts (See my post of April 16, 2009: Part XXIX.), each of which shows the number of references cited within them.

1. Incumbent law firms (See my post of April 16, 2009: incumbent firms with 11 references.).

2. Internal malpractice (See my post of April 25, 2009: malpractice and in-house lawyers with 6 references.)

In March, Paris-based Schneider Electric SA, a 25-billion-Euro global energy management company, appointed Peter Wexler, an American, to serve as its chief legal officer. A profile of Wexler allows several observations on the challenges he faces or faced.

Wexler doesn’t speak French, as many global general counsel do not speak one or more significant languages. “ His challenge: to work directly with French senior executives,—sans the ability to speak French.”

The department is far-flung and diverse. Wexler’s 160 lawyers work from 31 locations, so there is a lot of cultural diversity as well as legal diversity.

Law departments stick out for a number of reasons when compared to other corporate support groups, such as IT, HR, finance, and facilities. Eight of them occur to me, of which the first four listed below are uniquely in the legal domain.

Malpractice risks (See my post of Oct. 24, 2005: malpractice by in-house attorneys; Dec. 20, 2005: in-house indemnification policies; April 15, 2007: hold-harmless agreements in Georgia; Nov. 10, 2007: negligence and general counsel; Feb.16, 2006: malpractice insurance explains a bit why there are higher outside rates per hour; and Nov. 24, 2007: inside advantage, no malpractice premiums.).

Attorney-client privilege (See my post of Feb. 16, 2008: attorney-client privilege with 18 references.).

Semantically, we can define and differentiate these four terms but operationally, in day to day usage, these terms blur. Here is my attempt to distinguish the terms, with the terms laid out in diminishing order of formality.

Policies lay out strong guidelines or mandates for how to handle important circumstances, including those that someone else, possibly outside the legal department, might want to test for compliance. For example, the general counsel publishes a policy regarding how deputy general counsel can respond to calls from journalists, or how the department will refer all subpoenas to the head of litigation, or how the department will henceforth only review contracts above a certain monetary value.

Procedures, as in “Standard Operating Procedures,” are prescribed steps laid out in guidelines and manuals. Procedures are not as formalized as policies; an Inspector General would not audit them for compliance. Procedures codify the proper way to do things. If people follow them, for example, you can assume that things are filed in a way that someone else can find them or that secretaries consistently order ink toner for printers..