Judges who become general counsel. The general counsel of Affymetrix, Barbara Caulfield, left the US District Court bench to become the top lawyer for that gene chip pioneer (IP Law & Bus., Vol. 6, Feb. 2008 at 9). Likewise, in a more prominent shift from bench to boss, Michael Luttig left the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to become the general counsel of Boeing (See my post of May 3, 2007: a judicial clerk moved immediately to become a general counsel.).
International Lawyers Network. Previous posts have identified at least 18 networks of law firms (See my posts of May 30, 2005: names a dozen; June 20, 2007: names three more; June 20, 2007 #2: one more; Nov. 18, 2007 #3: a Canadian group; Dec. 16, 2007: an Italian group; Dec. 19, 2005: more metrics; Nov. 11, 2005: skepticism on whether departments rely on such groups.). Another association of law firms came to light in Of Counsel, Vol. 27, Feb. 2008 at 3: the International Lawyers Network. The article describes it as the “5,000 attorney, 69-country, 89-firm ILN.”
Additional proposal generators. Previously I noted three packages that law firms use to generate first-drafts of proposals (See my post of March 1, 2007 # 3.). From Law Practice, Jan./Feb. 2008 at 36, a survey completed by 183 law firms reports that 24 percent of them use Hubbard One, 5 percent use Saturno Web Proposals, and 5 percent use Thomson Elite. The flow of incoming RFPs can justify automation (See my post of March 17, 2006: effort set in motion by RFPs.). [Note, I am a consultant employed by Thomson, which owns Hubbard One and Elite.]