Rating law-firm measurement processes and systems of law departments

In mid-2005, Bottomline Technologies, the provider of eXchange, surveyed the Fortune 1000 companies and AM Best 200 insurers. Of the 1,892 individuals sent e-mail invitations to participate, close to 200 responded. Thomas Gaillard of Bottomline reported some of the results at ACC’s 2005 Annual Meeting.

Asked to rate their company’s current law firm measurement process or system (See my post of Nov. 15, 2005 on some uses of that data.), 37% of the respondents selected “rudimentary,” the same percentage selected “pretty good,” 18 percent chose “robust,” and 5% described their arrangements as “exceptional.”

In terms of methodology, note that three of the four choices were better than average, which skews the results to the positive side. It was also not apparent from the slides the exact question asked, such as rating the arrangements with what goal in mind.