The COVID-19 era, beginning in January 2020, will be seen as a turning point for much of American society, as reactions to the disease drove political divides that were further inflamed by revelations of longstanding racial and social inequities. The impacts of these phenomena are felt everywhere, including in the nation’s corporate law departments, many… Read More »
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 »
After several years of hefty workloads and backlogged projects, in-house law departments appear to have carried do-more-with-less directives as far as they can. Recognizing the barrier to productivity and performance, CFOs are expanding corporate law department budgets to maintain momentum. On average, 2022 budgets are forecasted to receive a modest 5% bump, which is just… 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 »
Watershed moments like the pandemic influence every aspect of our lives, right down to the motivations behind our career decisions. Yet the impact is not always felt in the immediate wake of the events themselves, often taking years to register. Consider these examples: The Great Depression changed views about frugality among a generation, prompting people… Read More »
The legal profession struggles to retain attorneys with diverse experiences and backgrounds. The American Bar Association (ABA) reports that only 15% identify themselves as racial or ethnic minorities and only 36% identify themselves as women across the whole legal profession. This underrepresentation of different viewpoints and perspectives hinders law firms and legal departments alike, since… 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 »
