Blickstein Group Law Department Operations Survey Welcome

Transcription

1 Welcome The Law Department Operations Survey, presented by the Blickstein Group, in alliance with Consilio, provides law departments with a consistent platform to benchmark themselves against their counterparts and industry peers. We re asking for your help by participating in this year s survey, which we estimate will take no more than minutes to complete. For your convenience, you can download a copy ADD LINK of this survey if you'd like to review and familiarize yourself with the questions prior to taking it. We understand your time is valuable. You can always start the survey and finish up at another time if you need to by clicking again on the same link. The final deadline is Monday, September 28, We look forward to sending the complete results to you once we've compiled them. Thank you for your participation. 1

2 Opening Please answer all questions as they relate to your role in Law Department Operations. Questions without asterisks are not required and may be skipped, if not applicable. * 1. Company/Respondent Information: Name (First & Last) Company Business Title 2. Name of Person Completing This Survey (If Different Than Above): * 3. Has your company participated in the Law Department Operations Survey before? Yes No, this is our first year 2

3 Previous Years Participated * 4. Please check all previous years you participated in our survey:

4 Demographics * 5. What industry is your company in? * 6. What is your company's annual global revenue? Less than 1$ Billion 1-4.9$ Billion 5-9.9$ Billion $ Billion $ Billion $ Billion $ Billion 50$ Billion + 4

5 Demographics 7. How many full-time attorneys are in your law department? In the United States? In Asia-Pacific? In Europe, Middle East and Africa? 8. How many part-time attorneys are in your law department? In the United States? In Asia Pacific? In Europe, Middle East and Africa? 9. How many different physical locations have lawyers?

6 10. What is your law department's overall reporting structure? All report to a GC/AGCs at headquarters regardless of geography All report to regional GC/AGC (who may report to a GC at headquarters) All report to a GC/AGC based on practice area Matrix organization Other (please specify) 11. Which of the following groups do you participate in? Choose all that apply ACC Legal Operations ACC Law Department Executive Leaders CLOC Regional Groups (e.g. CLIC, NY Legal Dept COO, etc.) ILTA Law Department Peer Group Other (please specify) 6

7 About the Law Department Operations Manager * 12. Degrees obtained - Please check ALL that apply. Bachelor's degree MBA Master's degree (non-mba) J.D. CPA I have another degree (please specify) 7

8 13. Have you ever worked as: Legal industry consultant Vendor to the legal industry Finance department In-house counsel Law firm attorney Law firm back office Process Improvement Consultant Service Industry Manager None of the above 14. What is your annual salary? 15. What is your annual incentive target given as a percentage of salary? Percent 16. Does part of your compensation include the awarding of stock grants or options? Yes No 17. In what year did your company add its first dedicated Law Department Operations professional? or before We do not have a dedicated LDO professional 8

9 About the Law Department Operations Manager * 18. What percentage of your time is dedicated to law department operations? Percent 19. How long have you been a Law Department Operations Professional? Years as LDO Professional * 20. How many total FTEs (including yourself) are on the legal operations team?

10 Operational Structure * 21. To what position do you directly report? (Please select one.) General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer Deputy/Associate/Assistant General Counsel CEO CFO Other (please specify) 22. To what position or department do you have dotted-line reporting (if any)? General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer Deputy/Associate/Assistant General Counsel CEO CFO Human Resources No dotted line reporting Other (please specify) 10

11 11

12 Operational Structure 23. What positions report to you? (if any) Paralegals Business/financial analysts Billing support Administrative support Legal procurement IT or Technology System Support Records Management Knowledge Management or Legal Librarian No positions report to me Other (please specify) 12

13 Operational Structure 13

14 24. What percentage of your time do you spend on the following? (Should total 100. Please enter numbers only, no % symbols). ediscovery Management Financial Reporting/Forecasting Law Department Strategy Law Department Administration Outside Counsel Management Technology Vendor Management Information Security Records Management Process Improvement Organizing Department Training Implementing Integrations Other Corporate Initiatives 14

15 25. How is IT support provided? By personnel/contractors who are dedicated to legal but report to IT By personnel/contractors who are dedicated to legal and report to legal By personnel/contractors who are not dedicated to legal A combination of the above 15

16 Top Challenges 16

17 * 26. As the LDO, what are the top three challenges you CURRENTLY face related to managing law department functions? Gaining attorney buy-in Communicate successfully with the general counsel Obtain funding or resources, i.e. for staffing, technology, etc. Document ROI of the LDO position to the corporation Stay abreast of law department technology Identify opportunities for business improvement & cost savings Driving/Implementing change Managing a budget Managing and retaining staff Managing IT Compliance issues Managing outside counsel Effectively reporting performance to stakeholders Containing costs Globalization Creating and managing effective AFAs Decentralization vs. Centralization Data protection Cross-border discovery GDPR Brexit Other (please specify) 17

18 * 27. As the LDO, what are the top three challenges you EXPECT to face over then next three years? Gaining attorney buy-in Communicating successfully with the general counsel Obtaining funding or resources, i.e. for staffing, technology, etc. Documenting ROI of the LDO position to the corporation Staying abreast of law department technology Identifying opportunities for business improvement & cost savings Driving and implementing change Managing a budget Managing and retaining staff Managing IT Compliance issues Managing outside counsel Effectively reporting performance to stakeholders Containing costs Globalization Creating and managing effective AFAs Decentralization Keeping pace with corporate changes Data protection Cross-border discovery GDPR Brexit Other (please specify) 18

19 Cyber Security 28. Which of the following departments are primarily responsible and/or meaningful influencers for cyber security? (Please check one as primarily responsible and all that apply as influencers): Primarily Responsible Meaningful Influencers Limited or No Involvement IT Dedicated cyber team Security Legal department Audit function Records management No one Other (please specify) 29. Please rate your outside law firms ability to protect your data. Very effective Somewhat effective Somewhat ineffective Very ineffective Don't Know 19

20 * 30. Do you require your law firms to complete any cyber security questionnaires? All firms Some firms, but not all No * 31. Do you require? Law firms to complete any cyber security questionnaires? Cyber security requirements in your outside counsel guidelines? Law firms to carry cyberliability insurance? Requirement 20

21 Legal IT 32. How effective is the following technology? 1 - Not effective ebilling 10 - Extremely Effective N/A Spend Management (If separate from ebilling) Matter Management ediscovery Litigation Hold Intellectual Property Contract Management Document Management Board Management Entity Management Reporting Tools Legal Service Request 21

22 33. How responsible are you (or others that you manage directly) for the following technology: Primarily Responsible Some Influence Not Responsible NA ebilling Matter Management Document Management Contract Management IP Management ediscovery Litigation Hold Intellectual Property Board Management Entity Mangement Reporting Tools 34. Do you have or plan to develop a legal department technology strategy or three-year road map which addresses how you integrate, evolve and replace your systems to support the legal department's processes and needs? Yes, we have a strategy We are planning or developing a strategy No 22

23 35. Are there plans to update, evaluate or implement any of the following technologies in the next 12 months? Yes No Don't Know ebilling Matter Management Document Management Contract Management IP Management ediscovery Litigation Hold Intellectual Property Board Management Entity Mangement Managed ediscovery Services Reporting Tools Legal Service Request System Lease Administration Other Other (please specify) 23

24 Operations Budget * 36. Do you have a distinct budget for operations? No Yes (Please specify the amount) 24

25 Operations Budget 37. Are the following included in the operations budget? (Check all that apply.) Outside counsel spend Law Library Law department technology * 38. Does your legal department charge back/allocate any legal expenses directly to business units? Yes No * 39. What is the highest level approval necessary for "major" initiatives (e.g. new technology)? LDO General Counsel CFO CEO CIO Other (please specify) 25

26 40. What percentage of your budget for operations is for internal costs, such as compensation or overhead (as opposed to external costs, such as service providers)? Percent 26

27 Strategic Relationships 41. How often are you involved in enterprise-wide (outside the legal department) strategic initiatives? Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely Never 42. How often are you involved in cross-functional objectives (e.g. a contract management program that involves both procurement and legal)? Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely Never 27

28 43. Please indicate the number of times per week you interface with: 0 times 1-2 times 3-5 times More than 5 times HR IT Finance Executive Suite General Counsel Compliance Other (please specify) 28

29 LPM 44. How effective is your Legal Project Management program? Very effective Somewhat effective Somewhat ineffective Very ineffective We don't have an LPM program 45. What are the elements of your Legal Project Management Program? (Select all that apply.) Budgeting Strategic case assessment Performance evaluation Technology Process improvement Other (please specify) 29

30 ediscovery * 46. Does your law department have a dedicated ediscovery manager? Yes No 30

31 ediscovery 47. Who does the ediscovery manager report to? Legal operations Litigation function General counsel Corporate IT Other (please specify) 31

32 ediscovery 48. Which of the following ediscovery processes do you handle in-house? We sometimes handle this in-house We have plans to We would like to We are not interested We handle this (or handle some of it bring this process in- bring this process in- in bringing this entirely in-house in-house) house house process in-house Preservation/Legal Hold Collection Early Case Assessment Processing Analysis Hosting Predictive Coding Document Review Production 32

33 ediscovery 49. Is your organization planning any initiatives during the next 12 months to improve your ediscovery process? No Yes If yes, please specify the initiative(s) 50. How do you expect your ediscovery budget to change over the next 12 months? Decrease Stay Flat Increase 1-3% Increase 4-6% Increase 7%+ * 51. Do you feel "in control" of your ediscovery process? Yes No 33

34 Reporting and Metrics 52. Which of the following types of metrics do you track? (Check all that apply.) Outside spend Inside spend Cost savings Recoveries Risk Cycle time Staffing Ethics/compliance Productivity of In-House Team Law firm performance Internal lawyer performance Diversity Revenue generation Other (please specify) 34

35 Reporting and Metrics * 53. Do you have a formalized reporting/metrics program? Yes No 35

36 Reporting and Metrics 54. Do you feel your law department makes effective use of the information that metrics provides? Yes No 55. How mature would you rate your reporting and metrics program? (0 = we don't have one; 1 = primarily manual, excel or access based, distributed through , ad hoc in nature; 5 = fully automated, reporting system based, automated distribution, distribution schedule and stakeholders defined) Are there compensation ramifications based on law department metrics? Yes No 36

37 Reporting and Metrics 57. How often do you produce management reports for the following constituencies: General Counsel Weekly Monthly Quarterly Annually Never CEO Finance department Board of Directors Law department senior management (excluding GC) Business unit heads Risk management department 37

38 Reporting and Metrics 58. To what extent do you use data mining and analytics to predict the following? Please also indicate areas in which you plan to do more of this. Always Sometimes Never We plan to do more of this Matter outcomes Matter/department budgets Discovery costs Selection of counsel Selection of venue Other (please specify) 38

39 59. To what extent do you use Artificial Intelligence to: Always Sometimes Never We plan to do more of this Make predictions about outcomes or other future events Assist with legal and quasi-legal work such as due diligence Be part of the discovery process Assist with Contract Assembly Power Self-Service Legal Initiatives Better understand legal spend Provide business Support (Insurance, Financial Contract Analysis) We don't Other (please specify) 39

40 KPIs 40

41 * 60. What do you consider to be your top three key performance indicators? Actual spend vs. law department's total budget Law-related expense as a percentage of total revenue Number of litigation matters (active, opened or closed) Total outside counsel spend Total outside counsel and service-provider spend Number of attorneys per billion dollars in revenue (or assets) Timeliness Total cost of outcome Overall Budget Outside Counsel Savings Expense versus matter outcome Return on Investment Attorney productivity Outcomes Customer/client feedback Savings from AFAs Billing errant rates Other (please specify) 41

42 Performance 61. How would you rate your law department's effectiveness in each of the following areas? Somewhat Somewhat Very Very effective effective ineffective ineffective Don't Know N/A Overall Law Department Operations Legal Technology ediscovery Records and Information Management Intellectual Property Management Outside Counsel Management Legal Service Provider (Vendor) Management Litigation Portfolio Management Finance and Budgeting Legal Project Management Reporting Business Client Engagement & Strategic Partnering Training Initiatives 42

43 62. On a scale of 1 to 5, how mature do you consider your operations in each of the following areas? 0 - We don't do this at all Law Department Operations in general Preferred Provider Network Reporting/Metrics/Analytics Discovery Management Records Management Electronic Billing Outside Counsel Management Legal Process Outsourcing Legal Project Management Alternative Fee Arrangements IP Management Artificial Intelligence Training Initiatives 43

44 Managing Outside Counsel and Service Providers 63. What is your total annual legal spend overall? Less than $1 million $1 - $9.99 million $10 - $24.99 million $25 - $99.99 million More than $100 million Inside the U.S.? Outside the U.S.? 64. What percentage of your total annual legal spend is on... Outside counsel? Alternative legal service providers? 44

45 65. Please select all practice areas that represent more than 20% of outside counsel spend Commercial and contracts Intellectual property (excluding litigation) Litigation Labor and employment (excluding litigation) Merger, acquisition and divestiture Regulatory Other (please specify) 66. How many different law firms does your company use worldwide?

46 Preferred Provider Network 67. Approximately how many firms are in your preferred provider network? Number of Firms 68. What percent of your legal spend goes through your preferred provider network? Percent 69. Do you have a preferred provider network for service providers, e.g. staffing and/or e-discovery? Yes No 70. Do you use law firm evaluations? Yes No 71. What percentage of outside counsel use your ebilling system? Percent 46

47 72. Do you track accruals and/or budgets in your ebilling or matter management system? Yes No 73. How have your overall law firm rates changed over the past year? Rate change Decrease > 5% Decrease < 5% Flat Increase < 5% Increase > 5% 74. How do you expect your overall law firm rates to change over the next 12 months? Rate change Decrease > 5% Decrease < 5% Flat Increase < 5% Increase > 5% 47

48 Offshore Legal Process Outsourcing * 75. Do you use offshore legal process outsourcing? Yes No 48

49 Offshore Legal Process Outsourcing 76. For which of the following do you use offshore legal process outsourcing? (Check all that apply) Document review Contract management Intellectual property prosecutions Compliance and legal research Real estate Other (please specify) 49

50 Offshore Legal Process Outsourcing 77. Would you consider using offshore legal process outsourcing? Yes No 50

51 Service Providers 78. We use alternative staffing/non-law firm vendors for: Document Review Contract Review Contract Drafting Entity Management Internal Investigations Compliance Due diligence Other (please specify) 51

52 Service Providers 79. Which term most closely describes your relationship to the following Outside Counsel management task? Direct Manage Assist No relationship We do this inhouse Handle billing issues Negotiate rates Negotiate discounts Negotiate alternative billing arrangements Matter-level budgeting Conduct performance reviews Track legal spend Track diversity initiative progress Select outside counsel for particular matters Select outside counsel for panel (convergence) Handle performance issues Assume responsibility for timekeeper data 52

53 External Cost Control 53

54 * 80. Please rate the following initiatives in terms of their effectiveness in controlling EXTERNAL costs Very effective Somewhat effective Somewhat ineffective Very ineffective Don't Use Preferred provider network Electronic billing Billing guidelines Aggressive rate negotiation Early case assessment Flat fee arrangements Other alternative fee arrangements Direct relationships with vendors Rate freezes Cap rate increases Limit when rates can increase Volume discounts Staffing controls Limits on disbursement Quickpay or Prepayment discounts Use less expensive attorneys Invoice review training Legal procurement function (reporting to corporate procurement) Other (please specify) 54

55 Alternative Fee Arrangements 81. What percentage of your firms bill at discounted hourly rates, including tiered discounting? 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-70% % 55

56 82. What types of Alternative Fee Arrangements have you tried? (Check all that apply.) Flat fee to handle all matters in a given area Flat fee by matter stages (e.g. for each deposition) Fixed fee per matter Discount with possible bonus Success fee Contingency fee Right to call retainers Budget-based monthly billing Fixed Fee with a collar or cap (Fee caps) Risk sharing Blended rate Volume discounts None Other (please specify) 56

57 83. In what practice areas do you use AFAs? Commercial and contracts Corporate secretary/governance Environmental, health and safety Ethics and compliance Finance, securities, banking and investments Government affairs Investigations Intellectual property (excluding litigation) Litigation Labor and employment (excluding litigation) Merger, acquisition and divestiture Real estate Regulatory Tax None Other (please specify) 84. For how many years has the department been using Alternative Fee Arrangements? Number of Years 57

58 Alternative Fee Arrangements 85. What percentage of matters are handled by Alternative Fee Arrangements? 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-70% % 86. What do you think the percentage of Alternative Fee Arrangements matters will be in the next three years? 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-70% % 58

59 87. What percentage of your legal spend is via Alternative Fee Arrangements? 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-70% % 88. What do you think your percentage of your AFA legal spend will be in the next three years? 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-70% % * 89. What is the biggest impediment to using Alternative Fee Arrangements: Inability of law firm to set price Law firm unwillingness Unpredictable nature of matter activity Lack of data Not sure which Alternative Fee Arrangement to use for which matter No internal impetus to change the current system Inside Counsel unwillingness Don't know Other (please specify) 90. What operational issues keep you up at night? 91. What legal/regulatory issues keep you up at night? 59

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61 Speed Round * 92. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with the following statements. Mostly Agree Mostly Disagree Our law firms do a good job at suggesting alternative fee arrangements that meet our needs. I have access to the right technology to do my job. Generally speaking, law firms and service providers ask me for feedback about how well they are doing. I regularly read one or more client alerts/law firm newsletters. The hourly billing model will be obsolete in the next 5 years. Outside counsel generally make strong efforts to understand the problems we face as a law department. 61

62 Mostly Agree Mostly Disagree We have terminated a law firm because they have ignored our instructions or billing guidelines. Law firms are leveraging technology to deliver legal services more effectively and costefficiently. Our law firms are innovative. We get more value per dollar from partners as opposed to associates. I get all the support I need from my general counsel. I believe that work done under our alternative fee arrangements is more cost-efficient that work done hourly. ebilling and matter management providers are keeping up with our needs. Corporate law departments will be the primary driver of innovation and change in the legal sector. My job is primarily change management. Measuring the value of legal services is more art than science. Shadow billing is an effective way to measure the value of fixed fees. Dedicated pricing professionals at law firms make it materially easier to implement effective alternative fee arrangements. 62

63 Mostly Agree Mostly Disagree The industry would benefit from a certification program for law department operations professionals. We conduct global law department meetings I believe most law departments will be using AI for legal-type work in the next three years I believe most law departments will be using AI to predict future outcomes and events in the next three years. 93. By what percentage do you think your company's legal spend would increase without a legal department operations position? Percent 63

64 Survey Follow Up * 94. Please indicate yes or no to the following. Would you like to... Yes No Attend an exclusive live roundtable event covering the results of the survey in a major metropolitan area this fall? Receive your free copy of the Full Results Package (proprietary to sponsors and participants - they will not be published)? If you want to use an different from the one submitted at the beginning of the survey for the above items, please enter it here: 64

65 Survey Completed Thank you for taking the 2018 LDO Survey. 65