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New global research has identified the best strategies for law departments to control outside counsel spending.
Thomson Reuters recently released its 2021 State of Corporate Law Departments Report, which compiles responses from 223 law departments across the globe about the unique challenges faced by departments in 2020 and how best those in-house teams can move forward.
Elsewhere in the report, Thomson Reuters noted that external counsel management was “the top priority cited” for law departments, which is unsurprising, it noted, “given that those costs represent an average 60 per cent of a department’s total budget”.
The 10 most effective ways to manage such external costs as identified by law departments, the report detailed, were:
“Given the effectiveness of enforcing billing guidelines as a measure in reducing outside counsel costs, law departments should consider using preferred vendor programs or panels as a way of increasing the value added, rather than simply as a way to further reduce cost,” it suggested.
Moreover, it advised overcoming or reducing communication issues: “Typical breakdown areas between law departments and external counsel are often caused by poor communication.”
More broadly, Thomson Reuters concluded, law department leaders should be rethinking “how they train their people and be more structured in the ways they collaborate, allocate work and build relationships”.
“Leaders also can use the lessons of the pandemic to design a department that fosters relationships with outside counsel and other legal service suppliers that are more efficient, healthier, and more focused on mutually beneficial outcomes,” it said.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
You can email Jerome at:
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Jerome Doraisamy
