ALMResearchBlog

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.

Diversity News and Information

Which firms have made the best efforts to foster diversity? Take a look at the annual Diversity Scorecard, published each spring by ALM Media’s magazine, The Minority Law Journal. The searchable spreadsheet includes numbers of U.S. partners and associates who are minorities, as well as the percentage of women attorneys at NLJ 250 and Am Law 200 firms. It is available through ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section. Subscribers to ALM Research Online have access to all years’ data (1984, 1985, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2001-2006).

We mention this because there have been a surge of reports about diversity in law firms and legal departments lately. The National Law Journal’s October 11th Law Firms Newsletter was completely devoted to the issue of diversity, with articles on Why Patches Won’t Work, Diverse Attorneys Need Reasons to Stay, The Challenge of Diversity Begins with Law School and several other topics.

Our newspaper in Atlanta, Fulton County Daily Report, reported that Fortune 500 Companies are Seeing More Minority GCs, with a report based on the latest survey from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association . Progress has been mixed for minorities, according to the report. The number of African Americans in Fortune 500 GC jobs continues to grow slowly, with 22 now holding such posts -- one fewer than last year. But the total of all minority GCs is up from 32 last year, and the number of Asian-American GCs has doubled, from 6 to 12. Unfortunately, a huge disparity in gender continues among Fortune 500 general counsel of color

The ABA Journal Newsletter that Cleary Gottlieb had topped the Diversity Rankings compiled by Law Students Building a Better Profession, using data published by NALP (National Association for Legal Placement). The study found that about a third of New York firms had no Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American partners. Female partners were even less well-represented.

But many firms have made a concerted effort to promote diversity within the ranks. Bryan Cave recently named its first diversity officer (Tina Harris), according the a recent Hildebrandt Headlines posting, and Perkins Coie hired a new director of diversity and professional development—Theresa Cropper, who had previously been the national diversity director at DLA Piper.

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.

Nomination for Technology Awards

October 31st is the deadline for nominations for Law Technology News annual awards for, as editor in chief Monica Bay says, “the best projects and people” in law firms and legal departments. Categories include: I.T. Director, Champion of Technology, Most Innovative Use of Technology by a Law Firm,  Most Innovative Use of Technology by an In-House Legal Department, Most Innovative Use of Technology During a Trial, Most Innovative Use of Technology For a Pro Bono Project (including Green Law projects). To read editor Bay’s description, click here. To go right to the nomination form, click here.