Law departments and shared or departmental ratings of law firms

InsideCounsel, Nov. 2007 at 4, explains that its revised website, InsideCounsel.com 2.0 will “allow in-house lawyers to rank the firms they use based on 10 different factors, including "value of service," "responsiveness" and "billing accuracy". However, law departments won’t find out the overall results until the October 2008 issue.

To a similar point, Legal Week, Vol. 9, Nov. 1, 2007 at 20, describes the extensive system UBS has set up for ranking its external firms. "By looking at seven different criteria -- including practical, technical, deal-making, strategy and managerial skills as well as pace of work and cost -- and ranking external firms in these areas on a five-point scale," the legal department hopes to rein in its legal bills, which are “estimated to have reached nearly 1% of the banking giant’s revenue.”

The article mentions that UBS is looking to take into account additional factors, such as the profitability of law firms, their infrastructure and administration. It also sketches a comparable effort by Zurich’s legal team.