Fewer than 30% of companies made their law firms set a budget for tasks assigned to them. Let alone manage their actual performance to such a budget. 2023 Thompson Hine survey (p. 10 of 16). What other corporate function or business unit gets away with not having budgets for what…
The Point Tis the season to discuss next year’s law firm rate increases. In the American Lawyer’s entry on this topic two days ago, legal industry experts cited a multitude of factors that could drive 2024’s pricing. Except one: Clients’ purchasing power. And clients’ willingness to use their purchasing power.…
The Point A judge’s ruling last week* illustrates which of the above two alternatives is better for the client company. The court, after reviewing a law firm’s bill in a bankruptcy case, found that AmLaw 100 firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP** had overcharged its debtor client by about $1…
The Point When should your business pay the exorbitant prices of a major law firm? When you need the full attention of the best attorney available for the task presented. But something else is happening. The data say that in 2022 corporate clients were paying proportionately more for the total…
The Point From the tenth consecutive year of LexisNexis CounselLink® 2023 Trends Report: In-depth Perspective on Rising Outside Counsel Billing Rates: 1. Law firm lawyer and paralegal (“timekeeper”) rates increased in 2022 at the highest levels since CounselLink first produced the Trends Report, in 2013, with the average partner rate…
The Point 1. Legal media, and conversations with my personal contacts, are replete with stories of attorneys in law firms and in-house counsel who are being brutally overworked by hourly billing quotas, and by strained law department budgets with significantly increased workloads (e.g., here and here). 2. This to an…
The Point The business press and specialty legal press are replete with speculation about how “Generative AI”, ChatGPT, GPT4, and other AI developments might change law firms’ delivery of legal services. Most center their discussion on functionality: How well will they work? But the likelihood, and pace, of adoption will…
The Point This week a strategy consultant sought my advice about engaging counsel on the legal implications of a project. I explained that her project was in an area where governing law was relatively straightforward. Though attorneys need to do lots of expensive work to address some situations, this project…
The Point Why don’t law firms use a software-enabled platform to automate transaction processes that attorneys typically carry out themselves? For less cost, with more accuracy, and faster than those attorneys can do manually? Last month Gartner analyst Ron Friedmann put the question this way: “Over the last 5-7 years,…
The Point The above from a headline in Corporate Counsel (subscription required) last week. Nathan Cemenska is an attorney who is Director of Legal Operation and Industry Insights at Wolters Kluwer ELM solutions. In a report issued earlier this month, LegalVIEW Insights volume 2023-1: Law firm rate increases, he contends…