Budgets for internal departmental costs and their component expenditures

The internal budget for a legal department covers all its costs other than what are paid to or through outside counsel. Since approximately 40 percent of a typical general counsel’s budget falls into the internal bucket, how the top lawyer manages those amounts makes a major difference (See my post of July 16, 2005: GCs and their business acumen regarding budgets.).

Law departments differ somewhat on the expenditures they include in their internal budgets (See my post of July 20, 2005: lists several funds in internal budget; July 25, 2005: costs of independent directors; Sept. 20, 2005: legal research; Aug. 3, 2005: value of equity awards; April 23, 2006: survey data on equity awards in budgets; Aug. 5, 2005: facilities charges or imputed costs; Nov. 8, 2005: ex pat expenses; Dec. 3, 2005: settlements and judgments; Feb. 1, 2006 # 6: directors’ compensation; May 30, 2006: views on settlements and judgments; June 27, 2006: at Cisco, 3% on technology; Oct. 18, 2006: depreciation charges; Jan. 27, 2006: three unusual items covered by some inside budgets; May 3, 2007: executive search fees; Oct. 25, 2007: paralegal training; Nov. 27, 2006: different treatments of costs; Dec. 19, 2007: compensation is about three-quarters; Jan. 27, 2008: comp is 75%; July 21, 2008: survey data on compensation; March 22, 2006: GC compensation on executive budget; Feb. 20, 2008: Internet surveys on brand confusion; April 8, 2008: relocation costs; May 25, 2008: GC relocation costs; April 23, 2008: filing cabinets; July 13, 2008: costs of law department retreats; Sept. 9, 2008: example of budget lines; Sept. 9, 2008: patent and trademark filing and renewal fees.).