Building an In-house Department from Scratch: Identifying Priorities, Red Flags, & Managing Business Relationships
View checklists on building a law department, in the materials from this presentation by in-house counsel.
View checklists on building a law department, in the materials from this presentation by in-house counsel.
Keep learning with an ACC-curated selection of resources on hot topics.
An overview of the requirements of in-house counsel. Includes brief biographies of the orientation's faculty, guide to the role of in-house counsel, review of the Reebok Rules, guide to risk analysis and management, and tips for managing the stresses of being in-house counsel.
An overview of contract review and negotiation policies as well as a sample contract review policy and procedure. Includes provisions regarding the contract review policy, considerations of prior contractual relationships, standard contracts, non-standard contracts and RFP's, and specific issues requiring review and approval.
In these tough economic times, actual or threatened corporate downsizing has forced in-house counsel to take stock of their careers as well as their future in general. Am I valuable enough to the organization to avoid the next layoff? Do I have the passion to take my in-house career to the next level? Or is my passion focused on something different? If so, how do I make the leap? This program seeks to provide a new perspective as in-house counsel look ahead to an uncertain future. After discussing how best to remain marketable in a down cycle, our panel of both former and current in-house counsel who have found other pursuits or undertaken new ventures will share unique insights on how to make sure you remain passion-powered!
Today's economic climate heightens the urgency of securing the maximum value for your expenditures. How should you work with your in-house and outside colleagues to meet the CEO's and other management's value-added expectations? How can we effectively manage legal costs, both internally and outside counsel, while building and maintaining a productive and effective legal team with a positive work-life balance? This panel will discuss these and other important issues as the economic climate changes the legal profession.
Most law departments spend more on their outside legal counsel than on their internal costs and staffing, yet most of us also recognize that law firms bill their clients or set their fees in a manner that is both unpredictable and often apposite to efficiency and client value. The ACC Value Challenge project spent the last year learning more about best practices in cost/expense management, and we've created this program to help law departments and firms get a handle on better processes that can help control expenses and drive greater client value in both firms and departments. We'll examine alternative staffing models, data mining techniques that can help you understand what matters are worth, metrics that measure performance relative to cost, and much more.
Legal Operations Startup Toolkit Checklist
ACC Legal Operations offer this as a reference model. Legal Department leaders are encouraged to use it as a tool to benchmark maturity in any given area(s), bearing in mind that based on department size, staffing and budgets, priorities and aspirational targets will vary.
Areas of focus are: change management, compliance, contracts, records, external & internal resources, financial, IP, knowledge, project & process management, as well as litigation support, metrics & analysis, strategic planning and technology.