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First 15 of various expenditures irregularly (or rarely) included in legal department budgets

First 15 of various expenditures irregularly (or rarely) included in legal department budgets

Budgets of legal departments include many costs as a matter of course, such as salaries, cash bonuses, retreats and conferences, Continuing Legal Education, subscriptions, and a range of other common out-of-pocket disbursements. Even with that broad commonality, many expenses hit the budget of general counsel only irregularly, if at all. This post covers 15 of them; a later post will complete the list of 29.

  1. Aircraft fees (See my post of Dec. 7, 2008: perhaps for reimbursement of flights on the corporate jet.).
  2. Amenities, like dry-cleaning and dependent care (See my post of Jan. 23, 2009: personal concierge and childcare at reduced rates.).
  3. Board retentions of law firms departments (See my post of Aug. 3, 2009: independent law firm serving a Board of Directors with 9 references.).
  4. Business lawyers or their support staff embedded in business unit headcount and budgets (See my post of Nov. 20, 2006: embed costs of lawyers in business unit budgets; and Jan. 15, 2009: local units provide support.).
  5. Capitalized expenses (See my post of April 20, 2011: metapost on capitalized expenses.).
  6. Commuting costs of general counsel (See my post of Jan. 12, 2011: Arizona to Nevada weekly commute.).
  7. Compliance training costs (See my post of Sept. 12, 2010: what budget should include compliance expenditures.).
  8. Counterfeit purchases (See my post of Oct. 11, 2008: legal budgets should not include purchases of fakes; and Sept. 9, 2008: keep outside the law department’s budget some costs of fighting piracy.).
  9. Depreciation of equipment or furniture (See my post of Oct. 18, 2006: depreciation charges.).
  10. Defense costs for in-house attorneys (See my post of Jan. 18, 2011: GlaxoSmithkline lawyer’s defense paid for.).
  11. Directors’ fees (See my post of Feb. 1, 2006 # 6: directors’ compensation.).
  12. Executive search fees, which might be absorbed by HR (See my post of May 3, 2007: recruitment fees.).
  13. Ex pat expenses (See my post of Nov. 8, 2005: ex pat expenses.).
  14. Facilities, premises and infrastructure costs (See my post of Sept. 6, 2011: costs of furniture; Aug. 5, 2005: facilities charges or imputed costs; April 23, 2008: filing cabinets; Dec. 23, 2008: administrators lack budgets, except some for facilities; Jan. 29, 2009: rental costs imputed; and Feb. 25, 2009: data of $17,000 per year per lawyer for facilities costs.).
  15. General counsel compensation (See my post of March 22, 2006: GC compensation sometimes on executive budget.).