Law Department Management Blog
I wondered whether coverage in the press corresponds to the size of the company, and thus usually the size of its law department (See my post of June 30, 2006 on the marketing of law departments, which collects references in my blog through that date to Microsoft [5], CISCO [5], GE [7] and DuPont [4].).
Here are the ten largest Fortune 500 companies and my blog posts that refer to them.
1. Wal-Mart = 7 (See my posts of Nov. 6, 2005 on its fixed-fee arrangements; Sept. 22, 2005 and May 22, 2007 and July 29, 2007 on diversity among its outside counsel; Dec. 3, 2005 on a conference for its key law firms; Sept. 22, 2005 and June 4, 2007 #1 on the rapid growth of the department; and June 4, 2007 on customizing its I9 software.).
2. Exxon Mobil = 0
3. General Motors = 3 (See my posts of Nov. 3, 2005 on e-billing; July 21, 2005 on a law-department consortium; and July 25, 2007 on the many functions of a software application it installed.).
4. Chevron = 5 (See my posts of Jan. 30, 2006 on how to integrate clients with litigation; March 4, 2007 on split engagements with law firms; March 4, 2007 on scrutinizing costs as closely as fees; May 8, 2007 on the toughest GC position; and May 16, 2007 on the meaning of a world-class legal organization.).
5. ConocoPhillips = 2 (See my posts of April 2, 2005 about metrics for litigation managers; and Sept. 28, 2007 about litigation life cycles.).
6. General Electric = 24 (See my posts of May 7, 2006 and Jan. 6, 2006 and April 6, 2007 about reporting lines; April 7, 2006 about procurement; Sept. 4, 2005 and March 12, 2006 regarding online auctions; July 31, 2005 and June 19, 2006 and Jan. 15, 2006 on Six Sigma; July 31, 2005 on legal specialists; April 4, 2006 on diversity; May 7, 2006 on total legal spending; Feb. 7, 2007 on its pledge to use arbitration; Feb. 7, 2007 on IP czars; Jan. 14, 2007 on document management and savings from it; May 7, 2006 on in-house training programs; May 23, 2007 on its law-department technology team; Oct. 8, 2007 on banishing the word “client”; Oct. 8, 2007 about its dispersed compliance function; April 16, 2007 on its US panel firms; April 17, 2007 on workouts; Feb. 10, 2007 about its mandate to apply for more patents; May 23, 2007 on reductions in litigation cycle time; and July 20, 2007 regarding pilot programs.).
7. Ford Motor = 2 (See my posts of May 20, 2005 concerning Anaqua and joint technology development; and May 8, 2007 for the proposition that it’s cheaper to lose some trials than to settle all cases.).
8. Citigroup = 7 (See my posts of Sept. 5, 2005 on the key to cost control is staffing; Sept. 18, 2006 about a training program at law firms for new hires; Nov. 6, 2005 regarding 1,000+ lawyers; Jan. 27, 2006 on the promotion of the general counsel; Sept. 17, 2005 #1 regarding compliance reporting to the Chief Risk Officer; June 14, 2007 for relocation of staff to lower cost cities; and June 16, 2007 about co-general counsel.).
9. Bank of America = 2 (See my posts of April 13, 2007 about reporting lines of the corporate secretary; and July 29, 2007 about the Burton Awards winners.).
10. American International Group = 5 (See my posts of July 25, 2005 about the costs of independent counsel for Boards of Directors; Oct. 2, 2006 on a four-time general counsel; July 9, 2007 regarding influential women lawyers; Nov. 15, 2005 on its $1 billion spend on claims; and Nov. 15 2005 on timekeeper per law firm in claims work.).
Odd, to me, that 33 references to nine companies are almost matched by the 24 references to General Electric.