Law Departments Starting to Embrace Metrics and Reporting

Global News

25
Nov
2015

Editor

According to Results from Eighth Annual Law Department Operations Survey

Blickstein Group, Inc., a leading consulting firm for corporate law departments and the businesses that serve them, today made available the results of its Eighth Annual Law Department Operations Survey.

Launched in 2008 and now including more than 100 questions, the Annual Law Department Operations Survey is the oldest and most comprehensive survey exclusively focusing on law department operations.

The survey is published by the Blickstein Group in cooperation with Huron Legal and contains data compiled from many leading corporate law departments. Developed by the Blickstein Group’s principal, Brad Blickstein, and David Cambria, director of global operations for law, compliance and government relations at Archer Daniels Midland Company, it is designed to help those in the role—and the corporations they serve—better understand how to handle law department operations. 

Data contained in the survey includes answers to questions related to law department operations (LDO) professionals’ responsibilities, cybersecurity and technology, budgeting, electronic discovery, reporting and metrics, relationships with outside counsel, alternative legal delivery methods and much more.

“It’s clear from the data that the profession is maturing: More than 56 percent now rely on a formalized metrics and reporting program,” says Archer Daniels Midland’s Cambria, who serves as the chair of the Law Department Operations Survey Advisory Board. “And this maturation has repercussions, with more than 29 percent now facing compensation ramifications based on those metrics.”

One of the ways LDOs are looking to achieve their goals is by taking a more programmatic approach to technology. “Almost 85 percent of survey respondents have a three-year technology road map, or a plan to develop one,” says Bret Baccus, managing director at Huron Legal. “Taking time to develop realistic workable solutions that account for the user’s needs, the organization’s appetite for change and the technology lifecycle of products will ensure that law departments are implementing solutions that will work cohesively in the short and long term.” 

The Annual Law Department Survey is supported by an advisory board that includes operations professionals from 11 leading law departments. “We are especially grateful for our advisory board and our sponsors, without whom the survey would not exist,” says Blickstein. In addition to Huron Legal, sponsors for 2015 are Mitratech, Exterro and ZyLAB.

Highlighted results are available as part of a special section in the December 2015 issue of Corporate Counsel and can be downloaded here. 

A live webinar, where Cambria, Baccus and advisory board member Connie Brenton, chief of staff and director of legal operations at NetApp, will analyze and discuss key data points, has been scheduled for December 10, 2015, at 1 p.m. ET. Registration is complimentary and available here.