Law Department Management Blog
Discovery coordinators. Further to my post of Oct. 1, 2005 on eliminating e-discovery expenses, InsideCounsel, Aug. 2006 at 44, refers to other law departments that have e-discovery positions. Verizon (Liz Gehringer) and Cendant (Rick Wolf) have created a position for someone to oversee discovery, as has Pfizer (Kevin Esposito).
Economic terms: utility function and rent seeking. Further to my post of March 26, 2006 on economic concepts, economists use the term “utility function” to describe happiness and contentment. A law department that has a series of employee satisfaction results to draw on might be able to create for itself a utility function against such factors as base pay, stock price, physical facilities, and equity awards (See my post of March 8, 2006 on law department morale and “set points.”). Economic “rents” are gains not offset by costs, which in the parlance of law departments is a win-win situation.
General counsel and executive education. Jacqueline Wells, the general counsel of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab gained leadership skills through personal development programs at the Center for Creative Leadership as well as through executive training classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. This information, from GC Mid-Atlantic, July 2006 at 34 fits with other items I have written (See my post of April 12, 2006 on university courses for in-house lawyers; and May 14, 2005 about a course at Harvard Business School.).