ALMResearchBlog

Surveys of U.K. Corporate Counsel: Not on Their Company’s Boards, Ignorant of DOJ Practices

A poll of U.K. general counsel conducted by top international firm Lovells found that less than a third (28%) have a seat on their company’s board of directors, despite widespread belief that it should be accepted practice. A report of the results appeared in Legal Week.

In a separate report that appeared on the BLT: Blog of Legal Times, a survey of some of the 350 largest British companies found nearly half of them don't know much about the U.S. Department of Justice's prosecution of foreign firms suspected of corrupt practices. KPMG Forensic polled the heads of legal departments, BLT reported, and found that 46 percent of them are unaware of the long arm of the U.S. law or believe that they are exempt from scrutiny.

Survey: Corporate Counsel Costs Up 7 Percent

According to this report in The National Law Journal of a new survey from Altman Weil and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, corporate law department internal spending climbed by 7 percent while outside spending edged up by 1.4 percent at American companies with more than $5 billion in revenue. The increase translates to costs of $346,497 per lawyer, driven chiefly by an average 19.2 percent bump in lawyer compensation and benefits. Outside expenditures now average $616,519 per lawyer, ranging from above $1 million in the chemical manufacturing industry to $251,405 per lawyer in the insurance industry. The survey data, collected from 144 companies in the spring, reflects fiscal year 2006 spending.

Surveys: Corporate Legal Depts. Are Conducting Their Own

Corporate legal departments are starting to survey their own lawyers and company executives about the performance of outside law firms to keep better tabs on the relationships, according to this report in The National Law Journal, based on reports by attorneys attending the Association of Corporate Counsel annual meeting in Chicago. According to NLJ, more companies, especially those that are small and midsized, may be turning to a formal survey process as they seek to foster stronger ties and better communication with their law firms. One example provided in the story was that of Ullico Associate Inc. General Counsel Patrick McGlone said his insurance company for the first time this year sent a three-page survey to legal staff and executives, asking questions about a firm's communications, timeliness, qualities and deficiencies. It has been following up with face-to-face meetings. According to the NLJ report, the eight firms working with Ullico took the survey "very seriously" and were eager to see how they performed relative to the other firms.

Survey: In-House Counsel Require More of Their Outside Counsel

According to an Associated Press report about the 2007 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey counsel have become more systematic in the ways that they manage their work with outside counsel and are applying basic vendor management practices in their evaluations.” Another major change during the past three years, according to the report, has been the increase in resources spent on compliance issues, “including periodic reporting on legal spending and developments.” Benchmarks from the survey available free through SerengetiLaw.com. The full report is $500 for ACC members, and $750 for non-members.

Salaries: 2008 Guide from Robert Half Legal

Thanks to Geoffrey Gussis, who writes on Careers for the In-House Blog, for the tip that the 2008 Robert Half Legal Salary Guide  is now available. Gussis focused on the news for corporate attorneys: “In-house attorneys will see average gains of 3.8 percent over 2007 levels. First year associates can expect annual base compensation to rise 4.9 percent to between $63,750 and $91,000. Average starting salaries for licensed attorneys with 10 or more years of experience will rise 4.1 percent, to the range of $126,000 to $210,750 annually.” But the guide provides information for law firm attorneys also, as well as for paralegals, legal secretaries, and other legal support staff.

And don't forget that we offer a free Associate Salary Update spreadsheet to subscribers, which is free to non-subscribers with the purchase of one other product from the ALM Research Store. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 888-770-5647.

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.

Survey: Skadden is the Standard-Bearer, DC Firms Lag

According to this report from the blog of our sister publication in Washington, DC, Legal Times, a new survey report published by BTI Consulting Group reveals the unsurprising news that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is the standard-bearer among corporate law firms. BTI’s survey asked corporate counsel, among other things, what firms were getting the most work. Their research identified eight other firms as power players in the transactions market: Baker & McKenzie; Jones Day; Mayer Brown; McDermott Will & Emery; Sidley Austin; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Vinson & Elkins. As for Washington-based firms, they aren’t leading the pack, the blog writer said.

In-House Law Departments: Salaries, Spending

According to Altman Weil’s  2007 Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, total compensation for in-house lawyers in management jumped 8% to 14% this year, and 4.5% to 23% for non-management lawyers. A report of the survey appeared in the National Law Journal. For chief legal officers, salaries rose 5.8% to a median $300,000 in 2007, while bonus dollars spiked 43% to $157,400. Division general counsel collected a 10.2% salary increase for a median of $232,000, plus a median $104,600 bonus. The survey includes data from 343 law departments with 8,148 lawyers and 72 one-lawyer departments.

Another recent NLJ article (In-house costs outpace outside counsel spending) reported on Hildebrandt International’s 2007 Law Department Survey and said that corporate legal spending increased 6% over the past year, with increases in internal spending (8%) outpacing external expenditures (3%). Total cash compensation for in-house attorneys, including salaries and bonus, climbed 10% last year, compared with 7.5% during the previous year, according to Hildebrandt’s study, which included 202 companies employing an average of 4.2 lawyers. They also surveyed companies' U.S. and international operations, and found that the median company has global revenue of $10 billion, spends nearly $30 million on legal matters and staff and has a U.S. law department with almost 30 layers and 60 staffers. The median company also shells out 58% of its U.S. legal spending on outside counsel and 40% on inside legal costs. Chief Legal Officer's total cash compensation rose $50,000 to nearly $900,000, with the median total at $800,000. General counsel's average cash compensation spiked 19% to $700,000.

Minority Law Journal Now Soliciting Free Directory Listings

The National Directory of Minority Attorneys is getting ready to update the directory for publication in early 2008. Listings are free. Sections in the directory – which is both a print publication and an online database – include corporate legal departments, government agencies, minority-owned law firms, minority attorneys at majority-owned law firms, and minority bar associations. The deadline for submitting directory listings is August 24^th. Click here to access the directory site online and to create or update a listing.

2007 GC Compensation Survey: Just Released!

Just released! Corporate Counsel Magazine's salary survey of the 100 highest paid General Counsel at major corporations, the 2007 GC Compensation Survey. This year there were 193 GCs listed among the top five earners at Fortune 500 companies, four less than the previous year. The top 100 are ranked according to cash compensation, which includes salary and bonus. Data in the spreadsheet also includes stock grants, option grants, and stock cash-outs. Download the searchable, sortable, electronic spreadsheet directly from the ALM Research Store.