ILDE Helps You Take the Reins of Legal Department Operations.
Moyan Brenn
Catherine Dunn, Corporate Counsel
Throughout his professional life, Bill Young has found ways to put both his J.D. and his M.B.A. to good use, specializing in operational management of in-house legal departments. Now, as president of the recently established Institute for Law Department Excellence (ILDE), he’s on a mission to enable in-house attorneys to practice law, and to help those in key operations roles to learn from each other.
“If you are going to enable your lawyers to do lawyering,” Young says, “they cannot be spending 25 to 40 percent of their time on administrative stuff.” (read the article)
Is Your Law Department Looking For These 4 Things From Outside Counsel?
Bloomberg Law
Lee Pacchia, ABA Journal
Trevor Faure, Global Leader of Legal Services for Ernst & Young, tells Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia that general counsels at large corporations are looking for four things from the law firms which represent them: professional telepathy, professional prescience, exceptional client service and cost efficiency. “But please note, [cost efficiency] will be fourth, after delivering and bringing the first three,” Faure says. (read the article)
Tips to Prepare Bills Incurred in Big-Ticket Litigation.
moonhouse
These steps ensure prompt payment of bills submitted to insurers and third-party payors in complex litigation
David McMahon, InsideCounsel
Insurers and third-party payors frequently retain our firm to determine whether the bills generated by outside counsel are reasonable. At times, in-house counsel and law firms also will hire us to ensure that the bills they intend to submit to insurers and other third-party payors will pass muster. There are benefits to conducting this type of prophylactic analysis: The exercise minimizes disputes arising from fee reimbursement arrangements and often facilitates more timely and reliable payments. This article will provide in-house counsel with some tips that we employ to prepare bills incurred in big-ticket litigation. (read the article)
2013′s Best Legal Departments.
Corporate Counsel
Corporate Counsel
In our second year of the expanded Best Legal Departments package— last year we jumped the number of departments we honored from one to four—we received the deepest and widest set of submissions yet. The number was up substantially, the quality seemed better, and the range of departments was as broad as we’d hoped.
THE WINNERS
Acorda Therapeutics: Scrappy But Savvy
Acorda’s lawyers do a bit of everything—and like it that way.
Bristol-Myers Squibb: The Caped Crusaders
The legal team collaborates the way a certain dynamic duo does on the silver screen. And like them, it gets results.
Caesars Entertainment: Render Unto Caesars
Its law department does just that by taking care of business.
California State University: Going 4.0
Cal State’s lawyers get straight A’s for reducing caseload and expenses. (read the article)
In-House Need To Know These 6 Things About E-Discovery.
calixto
Catherine Dunn, Corporate Counsel
Recently, CorpCounsel.com sat down with Baron to discuss big-picture trends, including what clients are putting on their wish lists. Whether you’re an e-discovery pro or a novice who needs to learn fast, here are some key takeaways:
1. WHY ANALYTICS MATTER
Because, in short, “The volumes of data keep going up,” says Baron. But it’s not just that the volume is increasing, it’s that the forms of media involved in discovery are getting broader, including instant messages, audio messages, text messages, and recordings of conference calls. Attorneys “still need to find the proverbial needle in a haystack, and it’s getting harder and harder to find it,” says Baron. “Or, it takes more time to find it.” (read the article)
The Award-Winning Document Review App.
MSVG
Ari Kaplan, Reinventing Professionals
I spoke with Michael do Rozario and Brian Borskjaer, Special Counsel and Director of the firm’s Legal Technology Solutions team, respectively, at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, a prominent Australian law firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.
We discussed Casefolio, the firm’s new award-winning document review app, its development, and the user experience, among many other topics. (read the post)
Building International Legal Teams.
dullhunk
In a growing global business world, more and more GCs are hiring counsel abroad
Cathleen Flahardy, InsideCounsel
As the business community becomes increasingly internationally driven, more and more legal departments are looking to grow their teams in other countries. While it may be a great benefit to the legal team, the hiring process can be daunting.
Yesterday, four general counsel sat down to talk about best practices in procuring international in-house counsel in “When in Rome: Building an International Legal Department,” an event organized by legal search consultants Major, Lindsey & Africa.
Moderator Michael Sachs, managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa, kicked off the event by asking the panelists how they know when it’s the right time to hire international counsel. Paul Liebenson, GC of ArcelorMittal, said there’s no magic formula. “It’s really a combination of risk and cost,” he said, pointing especially to the importance of staying in compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when companies go into other countries. “When you have to worry about corruption, you need to have someone you can trust.” (read the article)
