Getting More for Less (law firms, legal spending)

[WSJ Law Blog]

Ever devoted to extracting "value" from law firms, the Association of Corporate Counsel issued some shoutouts this week to a handful of business and law firms who came up with innovative ways to boost efficiency and cut legal spending.



The list includes GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Pfizer Inc., two companies that had led the way in paring down their budgets through the use of alternative fee arrangements. The pharmaceutical industry has made particular strides in applying that kind of pricing to litigation, an area that some lawyers have long said is too unpredictable to assign set costs.

Also listed: Seyfarth Shaw LLP, the Chicago-headquartered law firm that has made a near-fetish of its aim to deliver efficient legal services. The firm teamed up with the law department at defense contractor Rockwell Collins Inc. to re-engineer how the company selects and manages its outside counsel.

Other winners included Home Depot Inc., which cut its legal spending in half over four years in part by using fixed-fee retainer programs, and Sherwin-Williams Co.

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[Lexus]

Law firms now in an innovative ways. Law firms provide essential legal services to the community. They protect and litigate on behalf of their clients in an effort to provide justice for their clients. While this can be a noble calling, a law firm is a business and must be operated as one. Like any other business, a comprehensive business plan is essential to a law firm's success. A comprehensive business plan should cover at least three major areas: information about the law firm itself, information about financing, and information about marketing and client services.