Five management theories that apply to outside counsel relations of legal departments

Having covered each of these theories, at least with an introduction but sometimes with multiple posts, I thought it useful to pull them together.

Agency – a principal relies on an agent and problems arise (See my post of April 21, 2010: agency theory with 7 references and 1 metapost.).

Contingency – what’s best depends on context (See my post of July 5, 2010: contingency theory.).

Network relations – linkages between people such as frequency of reliance, breadth of use, and the pattern of interaction over time (See my post of May 11, 2010: social network analysis with 6 references.).

Resource dependence – legal departments rely on outside suppliers and compete with other law departments when they do so (See my post of July 20, 2010: resource dependence theory.).

Transaction costs – why law departments decide to “make” legal services within the department or “buy” them from external providers (See my post of Nov. 19, 2009: Coasian analysis with 6 references; and March 5, 2008: make-buy with 11 references.).