Lawyers per billion of total law departments compared to portions of departments

My most recent column for InsideCounsel analyzes benchmark metrics for law departments in their totality compared to the same metrics for portions of law departments that serve a particular country or region. To illustrate the difference, Samsung might provide data for its entire, global department or Samsung UK might participate on its own, becoming what I refer to as a “country” department.

To my surprise, the ratio of lawyers per billion is higher in the so-called country departments. As is my wont, I chew the cud on that finding and suggest several explanations.