Law Department Management Blog
Client and practice area assignments: The Office of Legal Affairs at the University of North Carolina posts a list that assigns “various administrative clients as well as subject matter areas to each university attorney.” (See my post of Nov. 16, 2005 on assignment lists for lawyers and clients.)
SOX work did not cause DuPont to hire another lawyer. Previous posts have related other peoples notions that the work unleashed by Sarbanes-Oxley might be considerable (See my posts of March 11, 2005 on reorganizations of law departments, June 15, 2005 on legal costs of compliance, and Aug. 24, 2005 on intranet reviews.) But DuPont, huge and complicated DuPont, has reported that for it the burdens of the law “doesn’t translate into needing another lawyer.”
Independent directors for Boards and committees. For one law department, the definition of “independent” is that the law firm has not been used by the company for two years before its retention by the Board of Directors or a Board committee, and that thereafter the firm may not be retained other than in that role for two years. The latter requirement may give some firms pause if they feel they might latch on to significant non-Board work. (See my two posts on July 25, 2005 about the costs of boards retaining independent counsel.)
Lawyer perquisites. A general counsel on a panel, describing the diasporas of his lawyers around the world, mentioned that “in Europe it is common for lawyers to have company cars, even lawyers at lower levels.” (See my post of July 31, 2005 questioning compensation rising at 7% per annum.)