Law Department Management

How often does a General Counsel talk directly to the CEO?

A piece about the newly-appointed general counsel of Marriott International, in the Bisnow on Business E-Letter, May 2007, mentions that Ed Ryan communicates with the chairman Bill Marriott with a "constant stream of written memos and e-mails." The two of them, additionally, talk directly at least twice a week.

To be sure, not all general counsel report to the CEO. Of those that do, I have not seen data about the typical amount of time they spend with the CEO, either alone, as part of executive committee meetings, or in other meetings. My speculation is that it is not all that much time every week – perhaps an hour alone every fortnight – and that the larger the company the less the CEO face time.

Use the Five Percent Trimmed Mean to give a more representative description of data

The Five Percent Trimmed Mean, a descriptive statistic, can help law departments describe such data as their spending patterns, amounts of invoices, cycle times, and internal hours worked. The technique came to my attention in an article by Stephen J. Lubben, "Choosing Corporate Bankruptcy Counsel,” ABI Law Rev., Vol. 14, 391, at 397 (See my posts of June 30, 2006 for more on statistics of dispersion; and Nov. 30, 2005 for definitions of terms that include average, median and mean.).

When a law department has a large set of numbers, but some are very high or very low, the analyst may choose to drop the top and bottom five percent of the numbers and then average the remaining numbers. That trimming leaves the remaining numbers as more representative, less skewed by the omitted extremes. Hence, when you use the Five Percent Trimmed Mean you concentrate on the 90 percent of the data that is in the most normal range.

General counsel in advertisements for law firms or service providers

Once I noticed one ad with on a testimonial of a general counsel, I spotted others everywhere. Here are a few of recent vintage:

An ad by Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear in Corp. Counsel, March 2007 at 41, quotes Matthew Fawcett of JDS Uniphase. The legal department of Concentra, a national healthcare company, shows up in a BottomLine Technologies case study. In an advertisement, Henry Schein, Inc. poses its law department for LawTrac Development Corp. (for example, InsideCounsel, May 2007 at 11). An attorney for American Airlines, not the general counsel, poses in front of an American jet on behalf of LexisNexis Martindale-Hubble (ABA J., Vol. 93, May 2007 at 3). The general counsel of New World Restaurant Group, Jill Sisson, appears in an ad for the US law firm Holme Roberts & Owen (InsideCounsel, May 2007 at 70).

I wonder what the law departments got in return?

Recruitment rewards offered by law departments

A law department that has run into difficulties recruiting the right talent might consider granting rewards to employees for introductions that result in permanent appointments (See my post of March 26, 2007 with data on employee referrals.). According to the Fin. Times, April 16, 2007 at 6, "Almost half of UK employers offer staff an incentive to solicit job applications from friends and associates." The savings that accrue from not paying the fees of search firms and other costs can be as much as 50 percent. Another benefit is that the new employee is more likely to share the culture of the recruiting firm, because an acquaintance identified the person, although some people worry that diversity of viewpoints will suffer.

If a law department can offer hiring bonuses on its own, it still needs to treat each candidate on the same basis as all other candidates and to conceal the source through which a referral has entered the recruitment pipeline.

A law firm’s online TV feed helps law departments train clients in employment law issues

In 2006, the winner of the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers contest was Addleshaw Goddard. That UK law firm produces “an employment channel -- a 24-hour-a-day online television feed that allows clients to train and educate their staff on important aspects of personnel and employment law." No more about the high-tech legal delivery is described in Fin. Times, Feb. 6, 2007 at 7, but that snippet is impressive enough.

When law department lawyers try to distinguish one large law firm from the next, it may well be that outstanding creativity like Addleshaw’s, coupled with effective implementation, win the trophy. Usually, however, law departments who invite law firms to strut their stuff lament the lack of innovation (See my posts of May 4, 2005; Sept. 10, 2005; and Feb. 11, 2007 on the lack of creativity by law firms; March 11, 2007 and fixed-fee arrangements; about; May 3, 2007 about thinking outside the bun for RFPs; Oct. 30, 2005 #3 and May 16, 2006 with some survey data; and July 21, 2005 on the low value law departments place on law firm creativity.).

Five crucial enablers for effective processes

Those who want to improve the effectiveness of a law department need to attend to its processes. A framework for doing so comes from Michael Hammer in Harvard Bus. Rev., Vol. 85, April 2007 at 111, where he proposes and describes the five key process enablers.

"Design" covers “the comprehensiveness of the specification of how the process is to be executed." For example, has a law department shown with a process map, manual, and forms how to prepare and distribute litigation hold orders?

"Performers" covers "the people who execute processes, particularly in terms of their skills and knowledge." Has a department assigned responsibilities for processes as well as seen to training and backup coverage for those members who perform the processes?

"Owner" covers "a senior [lawyer] who has responsibility for the process and its results." If something goes wrong, such as with the setting of litigation reserves, is there one lawyer or administrator who can be held accountable?

"Infrastructure" covers "information and management systems that support the process." Does the law department use technology to help its members perform the process and track their work, such as a patent database or a contract automation system?

"Metrics" covers "the measures the [law department] uses to track the process’ performance.” Can the law department show baseline figures, changes over time, and other metrics concerning the process?

Hammer maintains that these enablers are mutually interdependent: if a law department is missing one regarding a process, the others will prove to be ineffective (See my post of Feb. 6, 2007 on law department processes and references cited.). Hemmer concludes the article with a method and form to let a law department assess the maturity of its processes. The form is available online.

Human Capital Management by means of investments in 23 important practices – Part II

In the Harv. Bus. Rev., Vol. 85, March 2007 at 115, co-authors Laurie Bassi and Daniel McMurrer describe a framework of 23 human capital management (HCM) practices. Readers can find the first nine summarized previously (See my post of May 11, 2007.).

This post covers the final three categories, again with some rewording to fit law departments.

Knowledge accessibility includes four practices:

1. Availability: "Job-related information and training are readily available."
2. Collaboration: "Teamwork is encouraged and enabled."
3. Information sharing: “Best practices are shared and improved."
4. Systems: "Collection systems make information easily available."

Workforce optimization has five practices:

1. Processes: “Work processes are well-defined, and training is effective."
2. Conditions: "Working conditions support high performance."
3. Accountability: "High performance is expected and rewarded."
4. Hiring: “Hires are chosen on the basis of skill; new hires complete a thorough orientation.”
5. Systems: "Employee performance management systems are effective."

Learning capacity includes the five final human capital management practices:

1. Innovation: "New ideas are welcome."
2. Training: “Training is practical and supports organizational goals."
3. Development: "Employees have formal career development plans."
4. Value and support: "Leaders demonstrate that learning is valued."
5. Systems: “A learning management system automates aspects of training."

With all 23 practices listed, I will explore them in later posts and link earlier posts to them as appropriate.

Six Sigma control charts and variances in a legal process – is this for real?

If the Six Sigma methodology intrigues you, read the recent piece in Of Counsel, Vol. 26, May 2007 at 7. The article explains how Tyco purportedly used Six Sigma techniques in deliberations that led to its hiring Eversheds (See my post of April 22, 2007 about the arrangement.). Being possessed of no colored belts or six Sigma training, I can't critique the piece competently. I can say that the senior associate at Eversheds who wrote it poured into it an impressive number of methodological concepts (See my post of March 7, 2006 for explanations of some terminology.).

One step stupefied me. The article mentions that Tyco's law department focused, among other steps, on the creation of a "Control Chart: a continuing monitor of the variance in the Tyco legal process over time. The results create an alert when there is an unexpected variance that may lead to and eventually cause process defects." What sense can you make of that pottage?

Five suggestions for how to respond if a headhunter calls

A piece in the Fin. Times, April 26, 2007 at 14, reports on the professionalization of executive search. Among its observations, the article suggests five rules to observe if a searcher approaches you about a possible new position.

"Be courteous, not superior." A headhunter may be useful to you in the future, so treat that person professionally (See my post of Aug. 9, 2006 about being courteous to service providers.).

"Form a view." Think through your current position and whether you find it to be what you want and to provide what you want (See my post of Dec. 28, 2006 about promotions and career paths.).

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" If the position the headhunter is seeking to fill is not appropriate for you, explain why and tell the person where you would like to be. Good search firms keep elaborate databases of prospective candidates and you may tapped later with a better fit.

"Don't be a time waster." Don't tease the headhunter or that person’s client; decline promptly if you know you are unlikely to leave your current job or to take the proffered position.

"Talk it through at home." You need to discuss the new possibility with those at home, especially if you're mate has his or her own career or if you will have to relocate for the new job (See my post of May 26, 2007 about Royal Dutch Shell and its relocation of lawyers.).

Wal-Mart "may also be the most diverse in-house law department in corporate America"

This quote comes from the Fin. Times, Feb. 21, 2007 at 8. The law department of Wal-Mart has more than 150 lawyers: more than 40 percent of them are female and nearly a third are ethnic minorities.

Other law departments may match or exceed the gender distribution – the J.C. Penney department comes to mind – but the sizeable ethnic diversity surely stands out. I wonder whether there is some overlap between gender totals and ethnicity totals, as for example if an African-American female counts in both percentages.