Page 10 - CCCA63_2009

CCCA_V3No3_Dept-Performance-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No2_Dept-MgLaw-V1.qxd 9/16/09 9:53 PM Page 10 Performance In The Law Department Workflow and workloads in large Canadian law departments Survey finds patchwork of formal service standards. By Richard G. Stock n April of this year, the Chief Legal prevalence of formal service IOfficers of 11 large, public law depart- standards regarding access to ments agreed to participate in a compre- the law department and hensive survey of their practices and issues turnaround times.Flexibility affecting demand for legal services, work- seems to be the order of the flows and workloads,performance manage- day. Only two law depart- ment, and the organization and resources of ments indicated that they the law department. One of these was a had formal service standards in place. centralized and service the entire compa- U.S.-based energy company.Everyone con- Others said that “understandings” were in ny. Eight also say that most of their lawyers tacted readily agreed to participate, as the place to meet business timelines or that are aligned with business units and that focus of the survey was on questions and they had to be available 24/7. One law deployment is primarily geographic. issues which can be difficult to answer.The department said that service levels are Despite the variety of models, nine were initiative was launched by Sean McMaster, assured by embedding some of their clear that their lawyers report functionally Executive Vice-President, Corporate and lawyers with the business unit. Another to the CLO.Perhaps it is a combination of Legal Counsel forTransCanada Pipelines.He explained that providing “quality, timely these techniques which enables a law said he had not had a chance to conduct such and cost-effective services” is built into department to manage the demand for its a detailed study since taking over as CLO the law department members’ high- services effectively. more than three years ago, and thought that performance contracts. One general coun- The survey reported that growth was the time was right. sel said that if conflict exists or a lawyer expected in demand for litigation services, Chief Legal Officers were asked cannot deliver within an acceptable time provided mostly by external counsel. Nine whether written protocols are in place to frame, then the vice-president legal and of the 11 CLOs said that they had a dedicat- guide business units on when and how to business unit will meet to reconcile work- ed litigation management resource in place. call on the law department. Half said for- flow expectations. Another inquiry about law department mal protocols were in place, but their There appear to be a number of meas- workloads focused on whether too much comprehensiveness varied.Some protocols ures introduced in recent years to make time was being spent in managing rela- deal with the role of the law department business units less reliant on the law tionships with and the costs of external in procurement processes, others with the department. These include training, tem- counsel. Only one said too much time was approval and execution of standard and plates and standard-form contracts, and invested, and two said not enough was non-standard contracts and the settlement content on the internal website. Co-loca- being spent. Most participants reported of disputes.At the other extreme, one law tion with the business unit was cited by six that processes to retain counsel and man- department said that an operating practice out of the 11 departments. In most age costs had been streamlined in recent to guide business units was under develop- instances, co-location affected only a por- years. They added that many firms had ment. Another said this was done only on tion of the lawyers in the department. become more attuned to living within an as-needed basis. All participants said Only one company mentioned charge- corporate guidelines and in reducing total that external counsel receive work from backs for the legal services provided by the legal spend for the client.There is evidence the company through the law department law department. that the proportion of legal work provided or from the business unit, if the firm is on There are several dimensions along by the law department will increase slight- the list of approved counsel with author- which to describe the configuration of the ly in the next two years to nearly 47 per ized pricing arrangements. law departments. Nine of the 11 depart- cent. One was already at 80 per cent. In ISTOCKPHOTO The survey sought to establish the ments have specialty teams which are some cases,external spend will drop due to 10 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2009