ELECTRONIC BILLING
For Small Law Departments

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Audio Stream - The Association of Corporate Counsel Seminar
Electronic Billing for Small Law Departments

 

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DESCRIPTION
Should your small law departments process its legal bills online? What benefits are small law departments getting from electronic billing? What are the challenges in doing e-billing, both for the law department and outside counsel?

In this seminar, small law departments share their practical experiences with this rapidly growing technology (including a solo general counsel and the administrator of a small law department):

• How electronic billing works
• Which law departments can benefit from it
• Due diligence to select a system
• Managing challenges, including law firm issues

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PARTICIPANTS

	Bio: Rob Thomas, Vice President, Strategic Development, Serengeti Law Moderator
	Bio: Steven Gray, Administrator, NSTAR Electric & Gas Small law department representative
	Bio: James Sheets, Vice President and Corporate Counsel, Resun Corporation Small law department representative

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RESOURCES

Slide Presentation

ELECTRONIC INVOICING
It's not just for large law departments

TRANSCRIPT - The Association of Corporate Counsel Seminar
Electronic Invoicing—It's not just for large law departments

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PARTICIPANTS

	Bio: Rob Thomas, Vice President, Strategic Development, Serengeti Law Moderator
	Bio: Lynn Molfetta, Global Legal Administrator, American Express Large law department representative
	Bio: Geneva Gilbertson, Law Department Administrator, Sierra Health Medium law department representative
	Bio: James Sheets, Vice President and Corporate Counsel, Resun Corporation Small law department representative

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RESOURCES

	Slide Presentation
	Questions & Answers

MANAGING OUTSIDE COUNSEL
Getting off on the right foot and staying in step

AUDIO STREAM - The Association of Corporate Counsel Seminar
Managing Outside Counsel—Getting off on the right foot and staying in step

• Why require written plans/budgets? Are there any downsides to getting them?
• What details do you require? For what time periods?
• How (and how often) do you track progress against plan, and spending against the budget?
• What types of reports do you run and how often?
• How do you handle changes to plans/budgets?
• What do you do when outside counsel don’t follow the plan, or overspend their budgets?
• How do you relate outside counsel budgets to your law department budget?

2. Putting in place a fee structure that incents performance

• How do you generally compensate outside counsel--hourly or alternatives to hourly billing?
• Do you use different fee structures for different types of projects?
• How do you work out fee arrangements with your outside counsel? What are their objections?
• How does working out fee arrangements relate to the preparation of plans and budgets?
• How well do you think the different types of fee arrangements have worked, both for your company and for your firms?
• How do you handle outside counsel rate increases?
• What other types of compensation arrangements are you considering for the future?

	Bio: Rob Thomas, Vice President, Strategic Development, Serengeti Law Moderator
	Bio: Stuart Alderoty, Chief Litigation Counsel, American Express Large law department representative
	Bio: Jeffrey Carr, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, FMC Technologies, Inc. Medium law department representative
	Bio: Deanne Tully, Vice President & General Counsel, Tier Technologies, Inc. Small law department representative
	Bio: Mark LoSacco, Head Litigation Counsel, American Express Travel Related Services Company Large law department representative

	Sample Engagement Letter
	FMC Legal Team Organization

TRACKING OUTSIDE COUNSEL PERFORMANCE

AUDIO STREAM - The Association of Corporate Counsel Seminar
Tracking Outside Counsel Performance

1. At the conclusion of a project, how do you generally capture results achieved and lessons learned?

2. In what types of projects to you require a specific end-of-matter assessment? What information do you collect?

3. How do you assess the following factors related to outside counsel performance:

• Efficiency (hours, cost, other measures)
• Time pending before resolution
• Predictive accuracy (cost, time, results)
• Results achieved
• Subjective factors such as responsiveness, grasp of business goals, etc.
• Other

4. Do you tie compensation to performance? If so, how?

5. Do you compare results achieved by different outside counsel in similar projects? How do you define similar types of work to ensure fair comparisons?

6. Do you track in-house counsel performance on similar work, and compare with the performance of outside counsel?

7. What other ways do you use the results information that you collect? Do you give feedback to outside counsel and their firms, both positive and negative? How often? Do you provide assessments of in-house counsel who were managing projects? How often?

A panel of in-house counsel from small, medium, and large departments will share strategies used in tracking outside counsel performance.

	Bio: Rob Thomas, Vice President, Strategic Development, Serengeti Law Moderator
	Bio: Mark LoSacco, Head Litigation Counsel, American Express Travel Related Services Company Large law department representative
	Bio: Jeffrey Carr, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, FMC Technologies, Inc. Medium law department representative
	Bio: Deanne Tully, Vice President & General Counsel, Tier Technologies, Inc. Small law department representative

	Webcast Transcript
	Tracking Outside Counsel Performance PowerPoint Presentation
	Decision Tree Example