ALMResearchBlog

Patent and Trademark Office Issues Performance and Accountability Report

According to this report on Docuticker, the USPTO has just issued its FY 2007 Performance and Accountability Report. Patent quality and productivity are at historic highs, according to the USPTO press release. In 2007, patent examiners examined the highest number of applications in history—362,227, and quality compliance was at 96.5%, equaling last year’s results. In addition, patent examiner decisions were upheld by the patent appeals board 69% of the time, up from 51% in 2005.

For the second year in a row, the USPTO exceeded all of its trademark-related performance goals: a record number of applications were examined—323,527. Quality was up 97.4%. And, the average time from filing an initial trademark application to a preliminary decision was below 3 months.

Just Released: 2007 NLJ Billing Survey

The 2007 NLJ Billing Survey is now available in spreadsheet format through ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section. The National Law Journal's survey of billing rates of the largest law firms in the U.S. provides the high, low, average and median billing rates for partners and associates, and this year also includes associate class billing data, and firmwide average and median billing rates. This spreadsheet product is available free to subscribers, and for $295 to non-subscribers. A report of the survey appeared in the Dec. 10th issue of The National Law Journal.

Technology: Too Much?

A report of a recent survey of 115 lawyers at “multinational firms” and their uses of technology appeared recently on the Inhouse Blog, noting that the majority (56.1%) of respondents reported that technology led to longer working hours, but 46.5% said “technology made their working life more satisfying despite the longer hours, ad many were allowed to work from home.” The survey was conducted by law firm Kemp Little and the PLC Law Department magazine.

On a related note, the results of the Legal Technology Market Assessment Study, conducted by Cogent Research  and published by ALM Research are now available by topic—case management, document management, CRM, electronic discovery, and online research. The “LTMAS” Survey measured user satisfaction and brand loyalty to a variety of products within each product genre. The full report also covers budget and purchase plans for the coming year. For more information about this survey and the various reports, contact Chuck Lowry, director of client relations at [email protected].

Minority Associates Survey

The Minority Law Journal’s fall issue carries a report of the Minority Associates Survey, including stories about The Woman Question – why female associates of color are less satisfied with life and work at large firms than male associates of color -- and Exit Strategies – why minority lawyers say goodbye to their firms. The MLJ on-line magazine is available with free registration.

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 of Big Deals Shows Balance of Power Shifting

Nixon Peabody’s Sixth Annual MAC Survey showed that sellers were increasingly getting the upper hand, according to this report on the Legal Pad blog. “MAC” stands for “material adverse change” clauses, which are considered a bellwether of the power balance between buyers and sellers, according to the report. MAC clauses give the buyer an “out,” defining conditions under which they can walk away from a deal before it closes. The firm studied public deals in all industries that were valued at more than $100 million (with the high end at $32.9 billion); more than 400 big deals were included in the research.

Add this study to the growing trend in original industry research conducted by law firms. We reported earlier on this blog about Fulbright & Jaworski’s annual Litigation Trends Report and Herbert Smith’s recent survey of ADR policies at leading U.K. companies. If your firm has conducted industry research, let us know by emailing [email protected] so that we can share with readers.

Just Released: Report of Practice Group Management Survey

Altman Weil and ALM Research have just released a report of their survey of Law Firm Practice Group Management, which surveyed law firm leaders across the U.S. about their practice group operations and management. Key findings include the fact that, despite the time and money invested in their practice groups, more that half of law firm managing partners and executive directors surveyed rated overall practice group performance as average or worse. When asked to rate their groups on the ability to market, develop new business and cross-sell other practices, fewer than 20 percent of firm leaders rated their groups as “excellent” or “very good” on any one of those measures.

The report includes data and information about practice group structure, performance, operations, leadership, administration, and marketing. It is the first formal benchmarking survey of law firm practice group management to be published in the U.S. In addition, the report leverages the extensive expertise of Altman Weil, to provide actionable recommendations for improving and increasing the overall effectiveness of Practice Groups. The report is available through ALM Research Publishing.

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.

Recent Release: 2007 NLJ 250

The 2007 electronic NLJ 250 provides demographics of the nation's largest law firms, and rankings based on the number of full-time attorneys. Data included in the spreadsheet includes: total number of attorneys, equity partners, non-equity partners & associates, starting salaries for first-year associates, branch office locations and number of attorneys by branch office, key marketing contacts, and more. This product is available free to subscribers and may be accessed in the ALM Research Store. Non-subscribers may purchase this searchable, sortable spreadsheet for $400.

Law Firm Client Surveys

We were intrigued by Tom Collins’ musings and suggestions (More Partner Income Blog)
about client surveys. Collins says he has read very little in the past year dealing with client surveys and wonders if the whole idea has “moved to the back of the collective mind of law firm managing partners.” We’re wondering also—and, in fact, it is one of the topics covered in our current Business Development Practices Survey, which we invite your law firm to participate in.

We ask, in our survey, not only whether your firm conducts formal client interviews and/or satisfaction surveys, but who conducts the surveys/interviews, how they are conducted, how often they are conducted, how the selection process works as to which clients are selected for surveying/interviewing, how the information is disseminated, and what the purpose is. We also ask respondents to rate client surveys/interviews for their effectiveness as a business development strategy.

Collins recommends that this strategy should be an ongoing exercise, but should not be done as a mass mailing. He also offers advice on how often to conduct surveys, and who should be surveyed or interviewed, along with a few caveats, e.g. Do not conduct surveys unless you plan to do something in response to the results.  Do not survey unless you have assigned clear responsibility and established accountability for follow up with each client regarding their survey.  To read more, click here.

To participate in this year's Business Development Practices Survey, click here. The survey covers marketing/communications efforts (budgets, staffing, strategy, and other organization concerns), as well as business development/sales efforts and trends. Participants receive the Executive Summary and a discount on the full publised report.