Home > Productivity > The burden of administrative time demands on in-house counsel
Published on:

The burden of administrative time demands on in-house counsel

By

The cliché “doing more with less” implies spending more time on work that benefits clients, less on things that help the legal department run, i.e., administrative tasks. Whatever detracts from client service has lower value (See my post of May 20, 2009: estimates of non-chargeable time; Oct. 30, 2005: in-house counsel resent administrative demands; and May 21, 2009: suggested revision to 1,850 standard for chargeable hours.).

What kinds of activities do in-house attorneys get caught up in that are low value to clients, infrastructure maintenance, not “chargeable” (See my post of May 21, 2009: internal chargeable hours with 12 references.)?
? The following 15 candidates came to mind, nearly all of which have a metapost.

  1. Budgets for internal financial purposes (See my post of Sept. 9, 2008: internal budgets with 27 references; and Sept. 12, 2008: internal budgets with 25 references.).

  2. CLE and forms of professional development (See my post of May 25, 2008: CLE with 30 references.).

  3. Client satisfaction surveys, morale surveys, value surveys, etc. (See my post of Dec. 5, 2008: client satisfaction surveys with 30 references.).

  4. Committees (See my post of July 21, 2009: committees with 6 references.).

  5. Conferences, off-sites and retreats (See my post of Feb. 12, 2008: retreats and conferences with 8 references.).

  6. Consulting projects that involve interviews, focus groups and surveys (See my post of Jan. 1, 2008: consulting with 15 references.).

  7. Convergence efforts that are broad-based (See my post of Dec. 27, 2008: additional posts on convergence with 11 references.).

  8. Diversity, pro bono, and environmental promotion (See my post of June 17, 2008: diversity with 29 references; Aug. 24, 2008: pro bono programs of law departments with 12 references; and March 11, 2009: conservation for law departments with 7 references.).

  9. Knowledge management other than CLE

  10. Performance evaluations of in-house staff, mentoring, and evaluations of law firms
    (See my post of Nov. 16, 2005: evaluations of law firms with 9 references; and Sept. 21, 2008: annual reviews and evaluations, with 12 references.).

  11. Recruiting interviews (See my post of Sept. 16, 2008: search firms with 12 references.).

  12. Service Level Agreements with clients (See my post of March 6, 2009: service level agreements (SLA) with 6 references.).

  13. Technology selection and training

  14. Time recording, charge back (See my post of Nov. 22, 2008: charge backs of internal lawyer time with 8 references; and Nov. 22, 2008: internal time tracking with 16 references.).

  15. Other: fire drills, blood drives, sports events such as softball leagues