Resource Library

The challenge: do more, do it well, do it quickly, and keep costs down. This is a reality facing law departments today. This practice profile explores how nine companies are stepping up to this challenge. Learn about practices utilizing non-lawyer personnel at companies such as 3M Company, ConocoPhillips, DuPont, FMC Technologies, Inc., McDonald's Corporation, Monsanto Company, Southwest Airlines, and Starbucks Coffee Company.

This practice profile is about the experiences of law departments at seven companies and a national law firm that, for varying reasons, decided to move some legal services to outside providers in the United States. It also describes service models used by some to in-source work that might have otherwise been performed by outside law firms. Featured corporate law departments are: Alcoa, Inc., American Express, DuPont, Golden West Financial; 3M, Reebok, and The Finish Line, Inc.

This Leading Practices Profile, The Role of General Counsel in the Middle East, features the law department leading practices for three entities navigating the many challenges of meeting the regulatory and cultural standards placed on global corporations.

This Leading Practices Profile (LPP) presents themes, trends and leading practices of general counsel at the helm of six legal departments located in the Asia-Pacific region. The resource explores how the roles of general counsel and in-house counsel in that region have evolved from legal advisors to trusted business partners. It also provides leading practices for the success of legal teams of global organizations located in the Asia-Pacific region.

This Leading Practices Profile, an update to ACC’s 2005 Leading Practices Profile, Leading Practices in Law Departments Adding Value and Moving Beyond the Cost Center Model, features law department leading practices for generating and demonstrating value to the organization, as well as best practices for improving the bottom line and optimizing collaboration with business units. In the wake of the economic downturn and increased pressure to “do more with less,” 10 participating corporations share their best value-generating and value-sustaining practices in law department staffing, targeted practice areas, outside counsel management, strategic planning and the use of metrics to measure and track value practices.

This Leading Practices Profile, an update to ACC’s 2010 piece, features law department leading practices for generating and demonstrating value through a number of value levers, as well as best practices for improving the bottom line and enhancing collation across business units. In wake of the economic downturn in the last decade and the increased pressure to “do more with less,” six participating corporations share their best value-sustaining practices in law department staffing, targeted practice areas, outside counsel management, strategic planning and the use of metrics to measure and track best practices.

This resource highlights Hewlett-Packards' program to onboard law school graduates, train them, and mentor them each step on their way toward full engagement within the law department.

In this latest Leading Practices Profile, ACC profiles the leading mediation and arbitration practices of two law departments operating in the Asia-Pacific region to learn how they approach alternative dispute resolution efforts. As part of the project, ACC also presents the views of experts and leading ADR organizations that offer alternative dispute resolution services for commercial disputes in the region.

This Leading Practices Profile (LPP), an update from ACC’s 2009 LPP on the same subject, examines how the roles of the general counsel and in-house counsel in Europe have evolved from legal advisors to trusted business partners.

Read how the Office Depot law department implemented changes to fee and staffing arrangements in a variety of law areas to increase value.