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CCCA_V7No2_Dept-Performance-V4_CCCA 13-05-16 3:12 PM Page 9 Performance in the Law Department “ Regardless of size and industry sector, almost all legal depart- per matter in the year. But include ments are ill-prepared to answer hard to plan for and measure effec- matters where external counsel the question “What difference tiveness. There are often a lot of were also on the file. Our research stakeholders, and external counsel shows that the percentage of legal do the lawyers make?” usually play a significant role. department time which can be ” Still, it is better to measure the regarded as strategic using these criteria hours; a third level requiring between 26 “big stuff.”Typically, this can be for as few rarely exceeds 30 per cent. Set a target to and 50 hours; and finally those requiring as five or six high-profile matters per year. increase the proportion of such strategic more than 50 hours. Be sure to have each The executive team and board will take work by 10 per cent per year for the lawyer prepare a list of the matters in the notice. Examples include: a file before the department as a whole until you reach 75 last two categories. This should be easy Competition Bureau or the Tax Court; an per cent. It is only possible to accomplish enough to do with a basic activity tracking acquisition or merger; resolution of a this by some combination of making busi- tool without timekeeping. labour dispute; or a major construction ness units much more self-sufficient for Next, ask each lawyer to do the same project. All of these either have important operational support work, changing exercise for the next 12 months. Our lead times or represent challenges and lawyers’ practice management habits, and experience shows that reporting on the last opportunities with the legal department in-sourcing complex work from law firms. year is easy enough. But it also reveals front and center. major gaps in forecasting specific complex Identify five or six matters for the next Match work with experience cases (25 hours plus) for the next year. Set year in consultation with the CEO. Legal department demographics tell us that a target to increase the proportion of com- Evaluation should be on a three-point scale the average age and experience of corporate plex work for the year, as measured by the of ‘Exceeds,’ ‘Meets,’ or ‘Does Not Meet’ legal departments are both increasing. total available legal resources of the depart- Expectations. Set a target of ‘Meets’ on four Organizations with large litigation teams ment, to more than 50 per cent within a of the matters and ‘Exceeds’ on the other such as those found in some insurance year. If the analysis suggests that the two for the year to come.The CEO or the companies or in attorney-general depart- department is already at 50 per cent, then concerned VP carries out the evaluation, ments will have a different profile.A careful increase the target by 10 per cent each and the general counsel reports the results. review often reveals that legal departments year.Again, this can be achieved by a com- The second part of this article will are“dumbing down”at least half of the time bination of co-counselling or in-sourcing address the four remaining sets of perform- in the sense that not enough of the work is from law firms and by generating 20 per ance data and related KPIs and targets:effi- appropriately complex or challenging given cent capacity within the department.The ciency, competencies, user satisfaction, and the amount of experience of each lawyer. next article will discuss efficiency and costs. In the meantime, time spent on bet- General Counsel have to work harder at capacity for legal departments. ter understanding strategic work, the com- matching work with experience. Contrary plexity mix and effectiveness of the legal to law firms,in-house counsel will person- Results and effectiveness department is a worthwhile investment. ally do 90 to 100 per cent of the hours for Measuring the effectiveness and results of a given matter essentially working as solo legal departments is both easy and difficult Richard G. Stock, practitioners, sometimes supported by at the same time. It seems difficult because M.A.,FCIS, external counsel. Asking each lawyer, it is usually the business unit and not the CMC is a partner including the GC, a few questions about legal department that has the lead on the with Catalyst their practice for the last 12 months pro- initiative or project.On the other hand,it is Consulting.The firm vides the overall work profile. Arbitrarily easy to measure the efficiency, that is to say has been designated create four levels of complexity for mat- turnaround and satisfaction levels for regu- the Preferred Provider for Legal Department ters:regular / routine including phone calls lar and on-going work. Targets can be set Consulting by the Canadian Corporate Counsel and e-mail advice requiring 5 hours or for this. However, it is the non-recurrent, Association.Richard can be reached at (416) less; matters needing between 6 and 25 special projects and strategic work that are 367-4447 or at rstock@catalystlegal.com. ÉTÉ 2013 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 9