In case you missed them, here are the “Editor’s Choices”:
Survey your law firms, but observe some courtesies (Jan. 5, 2010)
Your firms can provide all kinds of information to you, but ask judiciously and always share the feedback
Data on the costs of intellectual property litigation and recent increases (Jan. 5, 2010)
The costs of patent, trademark, and copyright lawsuits have over the past several years, but not outlandishly
Clients request legal services through an online portal and can see all the contracts that exist (Jan. 7, 2010)
Technology helps both clients and in-house counsel handle an epidemic of hospital contracts
The fewer the firms you retain, the more you need to intervene in their personnel management decisions (Jan. 12, 2010)
When you depend on a handful of firms, there is more need to take them in hand
a far-flung Nestlé’s legal team, and three consequences (Jan. 20, 2010)
If you are big enough, you can handle routine work in lower-cost offices, but there are knock-on effects
A view that managing organizational complexity is a top priority of general counsel (Jan. 21, 2010)
When your department is part of a large and complicated company, just keeping aligned is a constant challenge for the legal leader
Large-scale survey lists 30 contract terms most frequently negotiated (Jan. 21, 2010)
Focus templates and training on the most common terms that business lawyers and contract managers negotiate
As a marketing pitch, full service is empty according to European general counsel (Jan. 21, 2010)
“One-stop shopping” at a firm is not a close-the-deal attraction for general counsel in Europe
Checklists, practical tools with enormous (under-used) benefit for lawyers (Jan. 26, 2010)
Keep track of what you need to do with a checklist and you will be more productive and effective
Sixteen initiatives to save costs on external counsel ranked by effectiveness, and five additions (Jan. 28, 2010)
A catalogue of methods to reduce your external counsel costs (two posts combined)