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Feature Measuring value Everyone talks about measuring value, but how is it done? An inside look at one law department’s strategy. By Bev Cline W Benchmarking Survey,” in which Bruce Power participated. hen Brian Armstrong moved in-house from private prac- tice in 2000, it was to launch Bruce Power’s law division.This Proving value, says Morrison, “is about measuring value, and being Ontario's largest private sector power generator,the task for that you need metrics and numbers.” was no small feat. “There was something approaching 3,000 Several years into his tenure at Bruce Power,Armstrong con- employees who were about to transfer over to Bruce Power cluded that the best ways to show value-added was to write an from Ontario Power Generation,” he recalls. Only one person annual report to the CEO at the end of the year,much like a com- on the site had ever dealt with a lawyer in the course of busi- pany’s annual report. It would outline how his department had ness, and that was the former site vice-president. performed during the year, measured against the business plan. He had a lot to learn,Armstrong says, about “how in-house The Bruce Power law department annual review is typically counsel could fit into the business, help people achieve their several hundred pages in length, and includes an executive sum- business goals, make their jobs easier and add value.” mary outliningArmstrong’s division’s metrics highlights.Five stand What was clear was that he had to get management to work out: strategic focus; client satisfaction; litigation management; with him. He’d have to earn their trust.“It was integral that I external counsel cost management and corporate governance. show the value that an in-house counsel could provide,” says “The metrics by which we measure our performance are at Armstrong, now executive vice-president and general counsel the heart of our law division’s annual review,” he says firmly. at Bruce Power. Over the years he carefully implemented his plan to do just Proving value that, much of it relying on the use of clearly delineated met- Proving the value of the law department is a topic on the rics. He then presented results in a way that mirrored the minds of most corporate counsel. reporting style of the rest of the organization. According to Richard Stock, partner with Catalyst Consulting,legal departments are increasingly working at intro- Annual review document ducing or revising key performance indicators (he does not use In 2010,American consultant Rees Morrison launched an in- the word“metrics”).“They either want to — or are asked — to ALENA GEDEONOVA depth in-house counsel survey, “General Counsel Metrics better communicate their value to the organization.” 28 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2011