A quick Google search of the term ‘lawyer jokes’ will return over 2 million hits, which just confirms something everyone already suspected — lawyers are not among the most popular of professionals (though, to be fair, doctor and priest jokes are just as numerous). Still, the prevailing wisdom is that the only people who like lawyers are the corporations for whom they perform a bevy of services, from limiting liability, to due diligence, to the general combing of fine print. But what if not even the top legal officers of some of the country’s biggest companies were very pleased with lawyers?
A survey of 250 chief legal officers at Fortune 1000 companies by the the Association of Corporate Council and Serengeti Law reported today in Portfolio magazine found that:
Among America’s largest companies, 61 percent replaced one of their main law firms in the previous 18 months, up from 54 percent the year before, according to a 2007 report by BTI Consulting Group.
The telephone survey also offered legal officers a forum to vent their frustrations with outside council. They had plenty to complain about. Among the most cited issues: unjustifiably high cost, poor communications and low quality of work.
As you would imagine, the cost issue seems to be particularly vexing, a fact that may stem from the inherent tension between law firms, who can only raise revenue by increasing billable hours (one firm’s creative attempt to add a line item charge for tens of thousands of dollars for snacks, notwithstanding), and corporate legal officers, who obviously want their outside council to work as efficiently as possible. Another bone of contention: the increasingly high rates billed for new associates, some of whom may not even be licensed by the bar yet. Some companies are now refusing to pay for what amounts to on the job training for new associates, banning these newly minted lawyers from their most important work.
(Image of lawyer cartoon by Robin Hutton, CC 2.0)
