ALMResearchBlog

Poll: U.K. Lawyers Over-Confident on Client Service

Lawyers—barristers, that is—in the U.K. rate the quality of service they provide far higher than those who receive it, according to a new poll commissioned by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), according to a recent report in Legal Week . According to the findings of the MORI poll, which surveyed solicitors, prisoners and members of the public as well as barristers between December 2006 and August 2007, 89% of barristers said they were satisfied they spent enough time with their clients. However, just two-thirds (66%) of solicitors agreed – a proportion that dropped to 57% among members of the general public. By contrast, 96% of participants in the survey said barristers are honest, act with integrity and provide ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ advice and guidance. The survey, which will be conducted on a regular basis every two to three years, is in line with a BSB pledge to make evidence-based regulation a cornerstone of its regime.

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.

Who Represents Corporate America?

The National Law Journal has the list, the 20th annual Who Represents Corporate America list, that is, showing which law firms represent America’s largest companies, the Fortune 500. According to NLJ, their methodology this year was to “comb state and federal records to see which firms corporations actually used for commercial law and contracts litigation; corporate transactions; employment and labor litigation; and intellectual property litigation and patent prosecution.”

Data from this list is archived in the ALM Research Online database. In spreadsheet format, it becomes part of the overall Who Represents Corporate America product for 2007, which is updated on an on-going basis throughout the year with information from American Lawyer’s and Corporate Counsel‘s “Big Deals” and “Big Suits” columns, and a variety of other research reports that tell readers who counsels who.

National Law Journal’s Defense Hot List

Just in case you missed it, the National Law Journal published its third annual Defense Hot List this summer. The law firms on the list, according to NLJ, “have done exemplary, cutting-edge defense work.”  Nominations came from readers and were then supplemented with NLJ’s own research. They looked for firms with “overall impressive track records that managed at least one significant defense bench or jury verdict since July 1, 2006.”

Data from this list, as well as NLJ’s annual Plaintiffs Hot List (published in October) is archived in the ALM Research Online database. In spreadsheet format, it becomes part of the Who Represents Corporate America product for 2007, which is updated on an on-going basis throughout the year.

The Billable Hour – and the Alternatives

First, we read on the Law Marketing Blog that $1,000 hourly fees “are not out of the question, if it is a ‘bet the company’ type matter,” which blog author Tom Kane then acknowledges is a rare situation. And then we read in The National Law Journal that firms are learning to cope with alternative billing plans, which “create their own sets of challenges in dealing with outside counsel.”  The article noted that “more than 85% of in-house counsel are testing out alternative billing arrangements, according to a recent survey sponsored by Chicago law firm Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd. Sixty percent of the 162 in-house counsel who responded to the online survey on managing litigation expenses also reported success with fee arrangements other than the traditional hourly billing method.”

We follow such news with interest for two reasons. One of our most popular products in the ALM Research Store is the annual NLJ Billing Survey, which canvasses NLJ 250 firms for their high, low, and average hourly rates for partners and associates, as well as their alternative billing practices. Secondly, we’ve just concluded the first-ever ALM Research Billing Survey of billing rates and practices by lawyers at small and midsize firms and solo practices across the U.S. The full report will be available later this fall. (If you want to be notified when it is available for sale, send an email to [email protected].) There were over 5,000 respondents, and all that data is still being analyzed. But we can say that 88% of the responding lawyers said that they offer alternative billing methods. And only a few said that their highest hourly billing rate exceeded $1,000.

2007 Defense Hot List

The National Law Journal has just published its third annual 2007 Defense Hot List, a report on law firms that have done “exemplary, cutting-edge defense work.” As the editors note,” the firms on this list lived the kind of drama one doesn't find in a settlement conference.” Firms that made this year’s list include Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Cooley Godward Kronish; Dechert; Kaye Scholer; Kirkland & Ellis; Morrison & Foerster; Paul Weiss; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Sidley Austin; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The report gives details about the cases that earned them a spot on the list.

Best Legal Department: General Electric

Last month (May) Corporate Counsel magazine unveiled its annual winner of its Best Legal Department review. The winner was General Electric, and the three finalists were Accenture, Allstate, and J.C. Penney. Some of the most interesting reading in the article describing what led the editors to select GE this year was reporter Jill Nawrocki's description of how General Counsel Brackett Denniston and his team reviewed and whittled down their roster of outside counsel. If you haven't read it yet, click here.

It's interesting also interesting to note that in the 2007 Corporate Representation data (aka/ "Who Counsels Who") in the ALM Research Online database, so far only three firms have shown up as having represented General Electric in a significant transaction: King & Spalding, Hunton & Williams, and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood - all mentioned in the April 2007 issue. The Corporate Representation data is updated monthly, and is based mainly on the Big Deals and Big Suits columns in The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel. 

Rankings: 50 Largest Private Equity Firms

For whatever reason, The Deal didn’t include Private Equity International’s list of the world’s 50 largest private equity firms (based on direct investment) in their story, but they did include an extensive discussion of it in Dealwatch: Middle Market. Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Goldman, Sachs & Co top the list, according to The Deal. The 50 firms have collectively raised a total of $551 billion in equity in the last five years, PEI says, and using a 5 times leverage multiple to their equity capital raised, that translates to $2.76 trillion in buying power. But along with the heavyweights, more than a handful of middle-market-focused firms also made their way onto the list and raised billions in capital to advance their rankings.

Practice Areas and Industries Resources

Antitrust, IP: FTC and DOJ Joint Report: Promoting Innovation and Competition

Banking: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas 2006 Annual Report

Banking, China: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Report on China’s Banking Sector

Banking, Government: Federal Reserve Beige Book 2007

Bankruptcy, Courts: U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Courts Report on 2006 Filings

Business: National Small Business Association 2007 Small Business Survey

Class Action, Insurance: RAND Corporation Monograph on Insurance Class Actions in the U.S.

Courts, Canada: Supreme Court of Canada Ten Year Statistical View

Courts, U.S.: U.S. Supreme Court Justices Database, funded by the National Science Foundation, hosted by Northwestern University School of Law 

Energy: Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook Retrospective Review: Evalution of Projections in Past Editions (1982 – 2006)

Energy: Energy Information Administration Natural Gas Year-in-Review 2006

Energy: EIA Country Analysis Brief, Russia

Equities, IPOs: Hoover’s IPO Scorecard, Q1 2007

Exports: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 2007 National Trade Estimate Report

International: Country Analysis Briefs for France, Nigeria, Oman, Sudan

Litigation: U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform Best, Worst Lawsuit Climates in the U.S.

Labor & Employment, Occupational Injury: Mobidity and Morality Report on Fatal Occupational Injuries in the U.S., 2005

Maritime, Shipping: Bureau of Transportation Statistics – America’s Container Ports

Natural Resources: World Bank’s State of the Carbon Market 2007

Patents: Thomson Scientific Report on Global Patent Activity, 1997-2006

Patents & Trademarks: U.S. Office of Patent and Trademarks Strategic Plan 2007 – 2012

Pharmaceuticals: Eurostats Comparative Price Levels in 33 European Countries, 2005

Sports: Forbes’ The Business of Baseball

Technology: U.S. Census Bureau Report on Information and Communication Technology 2005

Trusts & Estates: U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans XXVI (2007)

Venture Capital: PricewaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association Rolling 12 Month Valuation Statistics, 1997-2006

White Collar Crime: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s Annual Report for FY 2006

Practice Areas: Charting the Take-Privates

Our colleagues at The Deal have created several charts tracking companies that have gone private in the last year, including the buyer, date announced, and the deal value. Charts include the mega take-privates, U.S. companies taken private, and buyouts outside the U.S.