Archive
Does a Law Firm’s Bill ‘Market’ to Your Department?
The positive side of law firm bills as marketing tools
Rees Morrison, Law Department Management
At a panel hosted this month by Canada’s Heenan Blaikie, a leading general counsel told the audience that “a law firm’s bill is its best opportunity for marketing its services.” He suggested that the bill can make clear the value the firm delivered that month and, indeed, give some insights into the how well it manages its services. The bill can show adherence to budgets and expectations and indicate the direction the matter is likely to take. (read the post)
AM Law 2012 Grows Revenue, Profit, and Headcount.
The Am Law 100 2012
The American Lawyer
All the key financial metrics for The Am Law 100 rose by single digits last year: gross revenue, revenue per lawyer, and profits per partner. Eighty-three firms posted revenue gains—25 more than in the previous year.
Women in Law Departments.
Leadership workshop grooms women for the GC role
InsideCounsel will host a seminar on the West Coast for women in corporate legal departments
Julie Beck, InsideCounsel
InsideCounsel, in conjunction with the California Minority Counsel Program, is sponsoring the Project 5/165 Leadership Development Workshop on June 4 in San Francisco. Project 5/165 is dedicated to increasing the number of women general counsel in the Fortune 500 (sign up to receive monthly updates from Project 5/165 here), and this workshop is designed to help groom women in corporate legal departments to become the next generation of general counsel. (read the article)
How Does Your GC Drive Department Culture?
Preferred management levers redirect behavior, they don’t try to reform culture
Rees Morrison, Law Department Management
The Economist, April 14, 2012 at 76, writes that the current CEO of Honeywell took over in 2002. Rather than try to change values of employees, which are harder to measure, he focused on how to increase the frequency and effectiveness of a dozen important behaviors. General counsel can learn from this veteran’s success. (read the post)
Security Threats Facing Firms and Departments in the Tablet Age.
In the Tablet Age, Law Firms Face New IT Threats
Matthew Huisman, Law Technology News
To lawyers anxious to protect their businesses — and their clients — Wolf’s remarks were the latest warning about a growing and significant danger. Law firms across the country face an increasing number of online threats from entities that can range from shadowy American hackers to foreign governments. The advent of smartphones, tablets, and other remote work devices used by lawyers has only increased the risk of unwanted online exposure. (read the post)
Will Law Departments Move to the Cloud with Google’s Drive?
Google Drive Released. Time to Move to the Cloud?
Sam Glover, Lawyerist.com
Yesterday, Google finally announced Google Drive, a Dropbox-like expansion of Google Docs. Google Drive allows you to sync your files between multiple Windows, Mac, and Android devices, and an iOS app is coming soon. So does Google Drive herald the beginning of the end of desktop computing? Possibly. But at the moment, it’s just a promising alternative to Dropbox, iCloud, SkyDrive, and similar services. Here’s an overview of Google Drive — and its warts. (see the post)
What Do Firms Think They Sell to Clients?
Caveat Everybody
Ryan McClead, 3 Geeks and Law Blog
I recently stumbled upon an alternative pricing scheme that I instinctively felt was wrong. The details are irrelevant, but I was struck by how vastly different the attorney’s point of view was from my own. So I tried to expand my viewpoint and to see the problem from all sides. I came up with three questions that I needed to answer and I sent them to the smartest, most knowledgeable people I know. Their answers below: (read the post)
What Keeps GC’s Up At Night?
What keeps GCs up at night
SuperConference panelists talk about how they handle internal issues, technology challenges and outside counsel.
Ashley Post, InsideCounsel
Facing continual pressure to do more with less, in-house counsel gathered at the SuperConference breakout session titled “Legal Challenges at the GC and CEO Level: What’s Keeping You Up at Night” to discuss ways to efficiently and effectively manage their departments. (read the article)
Day 1 of SuperConference.
Slideshow: Day 1 of SuperConference
Highlights from the first day of the 12th annual SuperConference
Ashley Post, InsideCounsel
Day 1 of SuperConference kicked off with the keynote panel “The Real Story Behind ‘The Informant’–A Case of Corporate Fraud,” which focused on the embezzlement scheme of Archer Daniels Midland executive Mark Whitacre, who later was played by Matt Damon in the movie “The Informant!”. From left to right: Anthony D’Angelo, president of Pinnacle Consulting Services, Judge James Epstein of the Illinois First District Appellate Court and Kirkland & Ellis Partner James Mutchnik. (watch the slideshow)
Lawyer Search on LinkedIn.
Law Firm Attorney Pages vs. LinkedIn Pages
Greg Lambert, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
Of course, not every attorney is a LinkedIn member, but I’ve had good success in finding many who are. So this got me thinking about what percentage of attorneys are on LinkedIn. Just for my own interest, I thought I’d take a small sample of three firms and look at their Silicon Valley offices to see just how many of their attorneys I could find on LinkedIn. The sample is completely unscientific, but I found it interesting in the fact that Partners (78%) were more likely to be on LinkedIn than their Associate (65%) counter-parts. Again, this is completely unscientific, but here are my results. (read the post)
