Home > Page 86
Published on:

By

Just shy of three years after I started this blog, I realized that I had created at least 10 metaposts – collections of at least six posts on a topic. So, on Feb. 3, 2008, I published my first group of what I called embedded metaposts, and published three more in quick succession. The “embedded” referred to the fact that I was simultaneously saving related posts in a Word file, but these assemblages were embedded and published in the blog itself. About 18 months later I tried, briefly, to combine related metaposts into what I called MetaPost Plus (See my post of June 29, 2009: my first effort at Metapost Pluses.).

Seven months ago my pile of metaposts numbered 523, citing 6,807 back references (See my post of Nov. 27, 2010: retrospective on metaposts.) having increased from 420 during the year (See my post of Jan. 29, 2010: commentary on the 420 metaposts as of then.).

During 2005 nine metaposts appeared (although they and subsequent metaposts remained unnamed and unnoticed until early 2008); 2006 saw 16 more; and 2007 increased the pace to 41. The next year jumped to 157 metaposts, but 2009 eclipsed that number completely: 203 metaposts. The pace fell off during 2010 (108 metaposts) and so far this year there have been 57. Overall, they average 13 references per metapost. The total in my Excel database of metaposts equals 592 but since I just put up Part LVI, there should be 610.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Previous posts here have mined some of the findings from a Legalbill survey of thousands of law firm lawyers. The survey asked about UTBMS codes used by the firms on their invoices. One question was “Over the last 18 months, based on your clients’ analysis of your invoices using information from the UTBMS, have you been instructed to change the way you manage their cases?”

Three-quarters of the respondents selected the choice that indicated the least intervention by the law departments. The clients remained mute regarding any conclusions they might have drawn from the laboriously prepared and coded bills. If nothing comes back, it’s easy to disparage the value of the codes and the effort felt to be wasted on compliance. Either law departments should effectively use coded invoices or end the requirement.

Published on:

By

No Road to Damascus vision causes a CEO to hire the company’s first house attorney. Rather, the CEO or CFO probably becomes aware of several arguments that compel the decision. Consider eight of them, in the order that I think they contribute to the decision (See my post of May 2, 2008: ad for first hire by manufacturing company; March 30, 2006: intermediate decision of contract general counsel; and Dec. 27, 2008: small departments with 7 references cited.).

Reduce external legal fees. The most pressing reason is cost-saving: hour for hour it is less expensive to pay an employee than to pay an outside law firm (See my post of Jan. 8, 2008: claim that company created a general counsel’s office to strengthen procurement of legal services.).

Handle flow of similar legal issues. Another impetus to bring a lawyer onboard would be workflow; sufficient demand or need – demand recognized and need immanent – for legal guidance and advice. The revenue of a company can be miniscule (See my post of Dec. 23, 2008: at least 20% of a survey’s law departments had less than $100 million.).

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Emic and etic descriptions of law department activities. These are terms used by social scientists to refer to two kinds of descriptions of human behavior. An “emic” account is a description of behavior or a belief in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor; that is, an emic account comes from a person within the culture. An “etic” account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer, in terms that can be applied to other cultures; that is, an etic account attempts to be ‘culturally neutral’. The terms were coined in 1954 by linguist Kenneth Pike as a way around philosophic issues about the very nature of objectivity (See my post of Dec. 16, 2005: ethnographers identify patterns in behavior; June 24, 2007: what a cultural anthropologist could glean about law departments; Jan. 8, 2008: how ethnography could help us understand law departments; Nov. 19, 2008: a way to understand practices in law departments; Sept. 30, 2009: a lawyer’s individual office; and April 14, 2011: reading cultural behavior as if it were a text.).

New York joins 43 other states and the District of Columbia in special admission rules for in-house lawyers. According to Met. Corp. Counsel, June 2011 at 63, New York State recently adopted a rule that “allows attorneys who are admitted to practice in other states to serve as in-house counsel to businesses, not-for-profit organizations and other entities in New York, without needing to pass the New York bar exam and without meeting practice requirements otherwise required for admission.” Those out-of-state attorneys who practice in-house in-state have to register and are subject to New York’s professional conduct and disciplinary rules (See my post of May 31, 2005: obligation of legal department to track admission status of its lawyers; Oct. 24, 2005: specter of unauthorized practice of law if not admitted; March 19, 2006: service that checks accuracy of resumes; Dec. 17, 2007: hullabaloo in New Jersey over in-house bar admissions; March 29, 2010: 50-state survey of admission requirements for in-house lawyers; and Jan. 12, 2011: Gucci case and admission to practice of in-house attorneys.).

This blog honored by Corporate Counsel as one of the best blogs for in-house counsel. Recently, CorpCounsel.com reached out to its reporters and @CorpCounsel Twitter followers to ask, “What are the best law blogs for in-house counsel?” As of June 20, 2011, there were ten reported in an article, including this one and GC’s Eye View, In-House Blog, and Reliance on Counsel.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

  1. Claims management (See my post of June 14, 2011: management of claims with 11 references.).

  2. Contracts work core to in-house counsel (See my post of June 16, 2011: core function of inside lawyers is contracts with 13 references.).

  3. Contract practices (See my post of June 14, 2011: practices related to contracts with 23 references.).

Continue reading
Published on:

By

With a rash of recent metaposts on contracts and how they are managed internally, I thought I should pull together a hyperpost. Here are 12 metaposts – collections of six or more blog posts on a topic – I have assembled, including two on document assembly.

Contracts, see document assembly (See my post of May 5, 2006: contracts with 15 references.).

Contracts II (See my post of Sept. 2, 2009: contracts with 48 references and 1 metapost.).

Continue reading
Published on:

By

In a recent article, Scott Giordano of Mitratech credited Ben Heineman (General Electric’s former general counsel) with an observation he and others must believe to be profound. “The greatest challenge for the GC is to reconcile the dual and sometimes contradictory role of being a partner to the business and a guardian of its reputation and integrity.” This appears in Met. Corp. Counsel, June 2011 at 9. My question is, Why single out the top lawyer as a guardian of reputation and integrity, as if that lawyer has more of a moral guardian role than do other top executives?

Later, Giordano cites the cop on the beat obligation. He writes “There is a conflict, for example, when the GC’s compensation package is tied to company profitability and stock options. It raises questions of impartiality when there is a personal incentive to disregard playing the corporate cop and maximize payouts that might be a result of manipulated financial numbers.” The top lawyer not only cleanses moral turpitude and preserves the good name of the company, but walks the beat and swings the billy club. Why the heightened ethical burden on lawyers (See my post of Dec. 22, 2005: ethics with 5 references; Oct. 7, 2008: ethics with 29 references; March 11, 2010: ethical behavior and in-house lawyers with 15 references.)?

It must be flattering to view oneself as the bulwark against lapses: the purer-than-thou lawyer calling ethical balls and strikes. But that could be myth-making and self-aggrandizement. Everyone in a company ought to be concerned about the public perception of that company – its brand and reputation – and everyone in a company ought to act honorably – show integrity.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

An e-mail arrived from Thomas G. Oakes Associates about their services and software to support trial presentations.

Oakes’ spiel is that trial presentation technology can help the judge and jury visualize and understand your story. It lets you compare items, such as documents, photographs, or videos. You can retrieve and display impeaching testimony or documents at a moment’s notice. The firm can maintain depositions, exhibits and streaming video servers for your convenience. They can create Trialbooks, TrialDirector Indexes, Bates Stamped files and tabulate your presentation binders. For massive cases, or massively important ones, resources such as these can be invaluable.

Given the huge costs of trials, the scarcity of posts here on this blog regarding the topic seems odd. Or not odd, since trials happen rarely (See my post of Oct. 27, 2005: Fulbright & Jaworski notes 60% of cases settle during trial; Oct. 27, 2005: percentage of trials that go to verdict; and Dec. 17, 2008: roughly half of cases that go to trial settle during the trial.).

Continue reading
Published on:

By

A survey last month by Legalbill, a provider of cost-management software for legal departments, obtained data from more than 600 U.S. law firm lawyers about their use of UTBMS codes. One survey question asked “To what degree have you changed the amount of attention given to selecting the most appropriate UTBMS code as a result of client feedback?”

Two-thirds of the lawyers said not at all or to a small degree. That could be because their clients agreed already that the codes the firms selected properly characterized the services billed for. If the firm does it correctly, no feedback from the client would be needed. Or, in a darker interpretation, it could mean that clients don’t say anything to the firms about their bills and coding. Feedback is meager to non-existent.

If you would like the fuller set of the data results, write Legalbill’s Managing Partner, Stephen French.

Published on:

By

During a recent consulting project, the general counsel said that about two years ago he had systematically met with nearly two dozen of his department’s major clients. He had asked all them basically the same questions – “How are we doing?” and “How can we do better?” – and compiled the results.

I commend this practice. It’s all well and good for a general counsel to pick up comments here and there from clients. Such remarks have immediacy and value. Far better, a deliberate effort reaches key constituents, tells them ahead of time what you want to hear about so they can prepare, compiles a fairly comprehensive picture of client opinion, and thinks about it as a whole — a far superior practice.