Vital Statistics 2003 Top of Mind A SURVEY OF SENIOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
More than Ever, Time Is Money You want to know what s on the minds of other in-house counsel and how they re dealing with today s problems, but it s likely you don t have the time to find out. Your days are occupied with an increasing workload and the need to keep costs in check, despite the boom in responsibilities. Answers to Your Questions. To help fill the information gap, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart commissioned independent research professionals to talk to senior in-house counsel in Fortune 500 and 1000 companies to get some answers. As a partner to corporate counsel, we wanted to learn what your concerns were and how we could work with you to address them. We heard that law firms need to: get beyond email use technology to work faster and more effectively find more ways to hold down costs increase non-standard billing arrangements. We uncovered some tough issues as well: You want a closer relationship with your outside counsel. But how do you want us to set up this collaboration? Should some of our attorneys physically work in your offices? Do you want a dedicated team or do you prefer a less static arrangement that can shift based on your needs? Just as you are looking for more information, we are too. Because of that, you ll be hearing more from us.this informational packet is a part of our ongoing series, Top of Mind, in which we explore what s on the minds of in-house counsel. Catch our monthly update on the last page of Corporate Legal Times. 02 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
It s Not a 9-to-5 World Hear this: You re not alone. When you re asked to handle more in-house and work longer hours, know that the majority of your colleagues are juggling the same issues. Fifty-six percent of corporate counsel surveyed and a whopping 74 percent of primary decision-makers reported that department workloads had increased over the past two years. Increase in Volume of Work In the Past Two Years 74% PRIMARY DECISION-MAKERS 56% CORPORATE COUNSEL Increased No Change Handle More In-House Increased Outside Counsel Use 7% 22% 18% 56% Volume Down 4% Need More Specialists 2% More Business Responsibilities 2% Other 4% 03 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
The Enron Hangover no.1 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE no.2 EMPLOYMENT ISSUES As the workloads increase, in-house attorneys expect more of their time to be spent dealing with the after-effects of Enron. Asked about the hottest issue for 2003, corporate counsel most often responded with corporate governance. It grabbed a quarter of all votes, which was nearly twice as many as the runner-up, labor and employment law, and a striking amount for an open-ended question with unprompted responses. With the government s increasing scrutiny of corporations, many also expect regulatory matters to surpass both corporate governance and employment law to become the most challenging issue in five years. Issues Most Challenging To Legal Departments in Five Years* 16% Compliance / Regulatory 12% Increased Workload 11% Employment Issues 10% Global 8% Litigation and Controlling Costs 6% Outside Counsel Costs and Environment * Figures presented by percentage of top mentions. Top Issues for 2003* 22% Corporate Governance 13% Employment Issues 12% Compliance / Regulatory 11% Litigation 9% Intellectual Property / Patent 9% Homeland Security / Securities 6% Environment 5% HIPAA 5% Product Liability 04 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Money and Compliance Burden In-house Counsel Degree of Concern About Specific Issues ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10 Contain Litigation Costs 8.1 Compliance Issues 8.0 Liability Exposure 7.4 Adequate Staffing 6.8 Time / Resources to Educate Employees 6.6 Employee Safety / Security 6.3 Finding Best Counsel 6.3 Indeed, compliance issues trouble the minds of corporate counsel almost more than anything else. But those concerns are slightly outweighed by the continuing obligation to keep litigation costs in check. It s a consistent theme in-house counsel mentioned cost more often than anything else in the survey. Other matters listed, such as adequate staffing and liability exposure, are familiar to many in-house counsel. But employee safety and security, previously not a pressing issue, is quickly becoming a top-of-mind concern. Protection / Privacy 6.2 Tort Reform Global Issues 5.2 4.8 05 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Amounts Spent on Outside Counsel Are Going Up and Up Increased Spending On Outside Counsel 52% OF FORTUNE 500 62% OF FORTUNE 1000 There s a reason, of course, why corporate attorneys are preoccupied by cost: The money spent on outside counsel which often accounts for 50 percent of a legal department s budget is jumping. Not one respondent saw his or her outside law firm bills decrease in the last two years. Instead, 62 percent of Fortune 1000*and 52 percent of Fortune 500 lawyers said they were spending more on their law firms for some, that number increased by an eye-popping 100 percent! Outside Counsel Expenditures Amount of Fee Increase Over Past Two Years 51 100% 21 50% 16 20% * Here and in all future references, Fortune 1000 signifies companies ranked from 501 to 1000 on the magazine s list. 11 15% 6 10% 1 5% 06 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Law Firms Are Perceived As Technological Dinosaurs Outside counsel can help their in-house peers contain costs and increase efficiency. The first step: Join the Year 2003. Half of in-house attorneys are unimpressed with law firms use of technology. There is an expectation of improvement, through such avenues as the automation of work, though the bar is higher for the Fortune 500 crowd. Significantly more Fortune 1000 attorneys are impressed with the basics use of email and exchanging electronic versions of documents than their Fortune 500 colleagues. 53 What Outstanding Use of Technology Helped You? 40 FORTUNE 500 FORTUNE 1000 % of Respondents 16 34 26 18 11 2 4 6 0 6 0 6 None Email Interchange of Documents / Secure Networks Internet Research Electronic File Documentation Extranet Tele/Video Conferencing 07 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Corporate Counsel Want to Hear from Their Peers Technology isn t the only answer, though. One-third of in-house attorneys surveyed said they wanted to hear how their peers were dealing with the same problems they were facing. By bringing together clients from different markets for casual chats, law firms can help them get the conversation started and answer ever-present questions like: Does another legal department have a better way for managing costs? Can one of my colleagues tell me how they set up a unique fee arrangement? How do I explain to management why legal costs keep rising? Interestingly, 16 percent of Fortune 500 lawyers also wanted to hear about positive experiences with outside counsel, while a meager two percent of Fortune 1000 mentioned it unprompted. I Want to Know About FORTUNE 500 FORTUNE 1000 26% 33% Best Practices / Programs Other Things I d Like to Know About... 16% 2% Managing Legal Department / Litigation 8% 9% Experience with Management Issues / Organization 12% 4% Staff / Associate Compensation Benchmarking of Other 14% 15% Legal Departments Experiences Managing Costs / 28% 19% Types of Fee Arrangements Positive Outside 16% 2% Counsel Experience 08 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Staffing Lessons From Similar Companies How many attorneys and staff do similar companies have in-house? As workloads increase, general counsel will need to add bodies to handle it all or look to their outside counsel to act as adjunct staff and justify the extra cost to management. Our survey showed that: The Fortune 500 set has a median of 13 lawyers and an average of 59.3 support staff members on-board. FORTUNE 500 Fortune 1000 companies take on far fewer: They employ a median of six attorneys and an average of 11.2 staffers. FORTUNE 1000 13 59.3 Attorneys Support Staff 6 11.2 1000 Number of Attorneys in Legal Department by Company Revenue* 100 10 1 $1 Number of Attorneys Annual Revenue (in billions) In the example circled, a company that brings in $10 billion in revenues each year would have, on average, about 20 attorneys in its legal department. $5 $10 $50 $100 *From the results of a regression analysis, we used logarithmic scales to develop this chart. 09 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Salary Information Is Critical $1,000,000 Chart Your Compensation* Minimum Attorney Salary Maximum Attorney Salary $100,000 $10,000 Attorney Salary Annual Revenue (in billions) The shaded area displays the range of average salaries by company revenues. For example, in companies that have $10 billion in annual revenues, the average salary of the highestpaid attorney would be about $400,000, and the average salary of the lowest-paid attorney would be about $110,000. $1 $5 $10 $50 $100 The heads of legal departments will also need to justify what they pay, both for themselves and their employees. With salary information and staffing numbers, general counsel can knowledgeably let management know when to hire and what to pay that new hire and when to raise salaries to remain competitive in order to keep talented workers. Perhaps more importantly, they will also know when and be able to back up their decision to look to their outside counsel to handle more. * From the results of a regression analysis, we used logarithmic scales to develop this chart. 10 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Turning the Heads of In-house Counsel: Non-standard Billing Arrangements Current Non-standard Billing Arrangements % of Respondents 40 35 24 16 FORTUNE 1000 FORTUNE 500 22 19 16 11 8 24 5 11 27 21 Fixed Fees Contingency Basis Retainer None Volume Discounts Capped Fees Other When corporate counsel call on law firms, they re interested in hearing more than the standard line on fees. There s a high level of interest in non-standard billing arrangements. A fixed-fee structure is popular, with nearly half of the survey respondents mentioning they have such an arrangement in place. Contingency fees and modified contingencies based on success are also prevalent, especially with the Fortune 1000. A quarter used them, 50 percent more than Fortune 500 lawyers. 11 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
The Price Is Right For Now Value of Outside Counsel Fair Poor Good Excellent MEAN 2% 56% 42% FORTUNE 500 7.2 7% 63% 30% FORTUNE 1000 6.7 5% 59% 36% OVERALL 6.9 Above the midpoint Today, most in-house attorneys consider the services that outside counsel deliver a good value. On a 0-to-10 scale, 59 percent of survey participants classified their law firms a 5, 6 or 7. But most are not labeled an excellent value 8 to 10 on the scale and corporate counsel expect more in the future. They want collaborative relationships, with their outside attorneys becoming extensions of their in-house team. 12 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Here s Your Opportunity Challenge us to improve our services. Tell us what more we, as your strategic partner, can do to deliver better value. We d like to thank those of you who participated in this survey. And we would like to emphasize for those who spoke to us, as well as those who are reading this information for the first time we want to hear more. The candid input that went into this survey was meaningful not only for our law firm, but for all in-house counsel. We hope this collaboration can continue. Thanks again. 13 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
Maximum Margin of Sampling Error (50/50 PROPORTION IS WORST CASE) Margin of Error (%) 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 The Top of Mind survey relied on responses from 106 people because research shows that fewer than 100 interviews result in a large sampling error, while more have a diminishing return on investment. 0 100 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Number of Interviews THE METHODOLOGY OF THIS SURVEY In the autumn of 2002, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart hired an independent research firm to gather together in-house counsel in New York City and Chicago and find out what was top of mind for them. From those focus groups, the research firm created a survey, which was completed by 106 in-house attorneys in phone interviews. The research, done in conformance with the generally accepted research principles of CASRO and ESOMAR, had a maximum margin of sampling error of 9.7 percent. All respondents held senior positions, with many serving as the primary decision-makers within their departments. The opinions expressed belong to the individuals who participated in the survey and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of their corporations. 14 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL SURVEYED Acting Corporate Secretary Assistant General Counsel (5) Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Associate General Counsel / Litigation Associate General Counsel (9) Assistant Secretary and Assistant General Counsel Chief Counsel / Mergers and Acquisitions Chief Legal Operations Officer Chief Litigation Counsel Corporate Counsel (5) Corporate Secretary / Counsel Corporate Vice President and General Counsel Counsel (2) Deputy General Counsel Deputy General Counsel / Managing Attorney Director, Legal and Legislative Affairs Director / Assistant General Counsel Executive Vice President / General Counsel Executive Vice President / General Counsel / Secretary (2) General Counsel (14) General Counsel / Secretary (2) General Counsel Director / Legal Department Labor Attorney Managing Counsel Senior Attorney Senior Corporate Attorney Senior Corporate Counsel Senior Counsel (6) Senior Counsel / Assistant Secretary Senior Environmental Counsel Senior Litigation Counsel Senior Vice President and General Counsel (4) Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel Senior Vice President-Law Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary (2) Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (2) Senior Vice President, Secretary and Corporate Counsel Senior Vice President / Associate General Counsel (2) Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Vice President and General Counsel (2) Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Assistant Secretary (2) Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary Vice President, Legal Vice President, Legal Services Vice President Work Force Division / Associate General Counsel Vice President, Associate Counsel Vice President, Associate General Counsel Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Vice President, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (3) Vice President, Legal and Government Affairs and Assistant General Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel Vice President, Secretary, Deputy General Counsel Vice President / Corporate Counsel Vice President / Legal Administration For questions and comments, or suggestions for future surveys, please email topofmindsurvey@kl.com. BOSTON DALLAS HARRISBURG LOS ANGELES MIAMI NEWARK NEW YORK PITTSBURGH SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON www.kl.com