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First 15 of various expenditures irregularly (or rarely) included in legal department budgets

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First 15 of various expenditures irregularly (or rarely) included in legal department budgets

Budgets of legal departments include many costs as a matter of course, such as salaries, cash bonuses, retreats and conferences, Continuing Legal Education, subscriptions, and a range of other common out-of-pocket disbursements. Even with that broad commonality, many expenses hit the budget of general counsel only irregularly, if at all. This post covers 15 of them; a later post will complete the list of 29.

  1. Aircraft fees (See my post of Dec. 7, 2008: perhaps for reimbursement of flights on the corporate jet.).
  2. Amenities, like dry-cleaning and dependent care (See my post of Jan. 23, 2009: personal concierge and childcare at reduced rates.).
  3. Board retentions of law firms departments (See my post of Aug. 3, 2009: independent law firm serving a Board of Directors with 9 references.).
  4. Business lawyers or their support staff embedded in business unit headcount and budgets (See my post of Nov. 20, 2006: embed costs of lawyers in business unit budgets; and Jan. 15, 2009: local units provide support.).
  5. Capitalized expenses (See my post of April 20, 2011: metapost on capitalized expenses.).
  6. Commuting costs of general counsel (See my post of Jan. 12, 2011: Arizona to Nevada weekly commute.).
  7. Compliance training costs (See my post of Sept. 12, 2010: what budget should include compliance expenditures.).
  8. Counterfeit purchases (See my post of Oct. 11, 2008: legal budgets should not include purchases of fakes; and Sept. 9, 2008: keep outside the law department’s budget some costs of fighting piracy.).
  9. Depreciation of equipment or furniture (See my post of Oct. 18, 2006: depreciation charges.).
  10. Defense costs for in-house attorneys (See my post of Jan. 18, 2011: GlaxoSmithkline lawyer’s defense paid for.).
  11. Directors’ fees (See my post of Feb. 1, 2006 # 6: directors’ compensation.).
  12. Executive search fees, which might be absorbed by HR (See my post of May 3, 2007: recruitment fees.).
  13. Ex pat expenses (See my post of Nov. 8, 2005: ex pat expenses.).
  14. Facilities, premises and infrastructure costs (See my post of Sept. 6, 2011: costs of furniture; Aug. 5, 2005: facilities charges or imputed costs; April 23, 2008: filing cabinets; Dec. 23, 2008: administrators lack budgets, except some for facilities; Jan. 29, 2009: rental costs imputed; and Feb. 25, 2009: data of $17,000 per year per lawyer for facilities costs.).
  15. General counsel compensation (See my post of March 22, 2006: GC compensation sometimes on executive budget.).