Not long ago, law firms or law departments with enough capital had little trouble hiring any attorney if the candidate’s salary and compensation expectations were met. Now, even organizations with an extensive corporate law department budget struggle to find enough attorneys to fill their open positions. More than just a blip on the radar, this… Read More »
Many of the cases arising from the 2020 SolarWinds data breach incident stem from the allegation that the software management services company ” … [utterly failed] to implement or oversee any reasonable monitoring system concerning … cybersecurity risks …” to the services and programs they offered, according to a 2021 complaint filed in a Delaware… Read More »
Engaging temporary attorneys for a wide variety of legal work and assignments can be an efficient and cost-effective method of maintaining productivity whenever your corporate law department budgets tighten. In fact, the right temporary attorneys are exceptional at implementing their experience and practice area proficiencies in ways that help you to do far more with less. But… Read More »
Burnout among the general workforce—and lawyers especially—might have passed the point of no return. In a recent poll conducted by Monster, 95% of American workers stated they are thinking about finding new jobs, implying a general sense of burnout in the workforce. With the reports from Thomson Reuters suggesting that a substantial majority of in-house… Read More »
A lot can change in 30 years. The world went from carbon paper copies (what a mess!) to electronic contracts, reems and boxes of paper documents to mobile eDiscovery apps (the world of litigation in the palm of your hand), lots of support staff to more self-sufficient attorneys. For three decades, Assigned Counsel has watched,… Read More »
Long hours, exhausting caseloads, eroding personal boundaries, and high workplace burnout. Many corporate attorneys cite these and other stress-inducing factors as their reasons for leaving law firm environments for in-house life. Now studies show that their assumptions about pressure within corporate law departments, especially in the wake of COVID-19, don’t mesh with their lived experience.… Read More »
The initial shock of the pandemic caused plenty of law firms and corporate law departments to make tough decisions about their budgets. Some resorted to furloughs and pay cuts as a way of stemming costs. Others examined strategies like reducing real-estate expenses or hiring temporary attorneys to make every dollar count. Eventually, conditions stabilized, but… Read More »
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Powerful in their time, Viktor Frankl’s words take on a renewed significance in the COVID-19 era. Rather than wallowing in the challenges of a trying year, business leaders embraced the opportunities the pandemic provided and evolved with new trends.… Read More »
Discounted law firm rates could go a long way to reducing pressure on corporate law department budgets, but Altman Weil’s 2019 Chief Legal Officer Survey found that asking for rate reductions is a sticky subject. In fact, 33% of CLOs say they avoid this line of questioning to avoid prejudicing their outside law firm relationship… Read More »
At the heart of every effective corporate law department is a commitment to collaboration. The shared expectation that in-house attorneys “do more with less” can unite the team, encouraging internal staff to share their knowledge and lend a hand when their bandwidth permits. Yet even with total in-house cooperation, there will still be situations where… Read More »
