Benchmarking and Surveys

Continuous improvement requires comparison with others through benchmarks and surveys. It may also require retreats to help legal department members focus on action. Our services cover

  • surveying satisfaction with the legal department
  • benchmarking structures, compensation and select issues
  • conducting off-site sessions for legal departments

Organization and Resources of the Law Dept, Performance and Metrics, and Benchmarking, Surveys and Retreats

This e-book reprints a portion of our articles from our on-going series of articles in the on-line magazine Legal Business World. This second, short 47-page volume contains 2 articles on law department organization and resources, 4 articles on Performance and Metrics, and a final 2 articles on benchmarking, surveys and retreats.

Benchmarking Legal Operations Maturity

The article profiles the ACC report on benchmarking law department operations and best practices across 15 functions and 92 sub-functions. The article examines the External Resources Management function and its 13 sub-functions. From 50% to 75% of the 316 respondents are only in the early stages of adopting leading practices.

The State of Corporate Law Departments

Three factors likely to improve the contribution of corporate law departments are critiqued. Taken from Thomson Reuters Institute’s “2022 State of Corporate Law Departments: Benchmark, Optimize and Innovate”, they are strategic positioning, effective partnering, and the right metrics. Legal leadership is encouraged to read the report.

Benchmarking Law Department Operations

The article profiles the ACC report on benchmarking law department operations and best practices across 15 functions and 92 sub-functions. The article examines the External Resources Management function and its 13 sub-functions. From 50% to 75% of the 316 respondents are only in the early stages of adopting leading practices.

Thoughts on Pricing Legal Services

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) released a comprehensive report benchmarking 15 legal operations. The law department maturity model uses three stages to survey the External Resources Management function. Only 11 % of the 316 participants reported they were in an advanced stage for this function. Few law departments made significant use of alternative fee arrangements or of metrics applied to pricing. The article discusses the need for pricing expertise, four questions to include in RFPs for legal services and how to approach alternative fee arrangements.