Comprehensive legal billing guidelines can help organizations achieve better budget predictability and support collaboration with outside counsel.
In this article, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Director, Operations, at Northwell Health, discusses how her organization created a more efficient legal billing process.
Q: What was the issue at hand? Was this something that has been a persistent issue, or something new that came up?
Our legal bills were a chaotic jumble of questionable charges. Beyond vague descriptions like "Legal Services Rendered" and "Case Review," we constantly battled inflated overhead and administrative fees.
We were paying for "office supplies," "postage," and other nebulous expenses without a clear breakdown or justification. Deciphering the actual cost of legal services felt like cracking an ancient, cryptic code.
This wasn't a new issue; it was a deeply ingrained habit of fiscal obscurity, a legacy of unchecked spending we were determined to overturn. We were tired of being nickel-and-dimed for overhead, and we knew this Wild West of legal billing had to be tamed.
Q: How did you approach a solution?
The first step when you are a lean Legal Ops team of one is to create a subcommittee. Enlisting paralegal and attorney support was the best way to kick off the project. We knew we needed to communicate our expectations to the firm clearly and consistently to rein in those invoices.
Our strategy was a blend of research, collaboration, clear communication, and a touch of technological intervention:
Q: Who was your biggest supporter within the organization? Did you make any converts to using Legal Ops more effectively?
Our CFO was our champion. He recognized the need for greater financial control over legal spend and advocated for the project. The initiative definitely highlighted the value of Legal Ops. While some attorneys initially resisted the changes, they came around once they saw the positive impact on budgeting and predictability.
Q: What surprised you the most?
The relatively smooth cooperation from our outside counsel firms was a pleasant surprise. We anticipated some resistance, but most were receptive to the guidelines and willing to work with us. They appreciated the clarity and the opportunity for a more structured billing process.
Q: How has this changed the way your company works?
Implementing billing guidelines has transformed how we manage outside counsel. We now have greater budget predictability, more control over legal spend, and a more collaborative relationship with our outside counsel firms.
Q: In hindsight, would you do anything differently?
The most significant thing would be to implement the guidelines sooner. While we dedicated significant time to refining the document, getting it into action quickly would have been more impactful.
Every month of delay represented continued exposure to unnecessary costs, from inflated overhead to inefficient staffing. By implementing these guidelines sooner and equipping our team with the right training, we could have tamed the Wild West of inefficiency much earlier.
While the frontier is now more manageable, this experience serves as a reminder that decisive action is often the key to reclaiming control and maximizing impact.
Comprehensive legal billing guidelines can help organizations achieve better budget predictability and support collaboration with outside counsel.
In this article, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Director, Operations, at Northwell Health, discusses how her organization created a more efficient legal billing process.
CPD is available; A certificate of completion will be automatically provided upon completion of the course.
CLE credit may be granted in jurisdictions where self-filing is allowed. Please consult your jurisdiction for their self-file or independent study rules.
Very often in-house counsel are challenged with legal matters that touch upon new technologies. Typically, they have little â if any â prior information or training. This session aims to provide a brief introduction on key legal tech concepts, highlighting the new trends on blockchain, metaverse and AI.
Generously brought to you by ACC Europe
CPD is available; A certificate of completion will be automatically provided upon completion of the course.
CLE credit may be granted in jurisdictions where self-filing is allowed. Please consult your jurisdiction for their self-file or independent study rules.
With Sustainability becoming an integral part of every company's business model and ESG being on the high-priority list of top management, in-house counsel should identify areas where they could carve-out a proactive role inside their organisations to contribute to their business longevity, in a context of constant evolution of legal and regulatory landscape.
CPD is available; A certificate of completion will be automatically provided upon completion of the course.
CLE credit may be granted in jurisdictions where self-filing is allowed. Please consult your jurisdiction for their self-file or independent study rules.
These days cyber-attacks and their prospective impact on personal (and business) data are viewed as a critical risk by most organisations. In-house legal teams need to be well equipped with data security governance skills, particularly with regards to cloud and other app's usage, to be able to mitigate the underlying risks and react accordingly under GDPR rules.
Generously brought to you by ACC Europe
In this Webcast, Mark Diamond and Tom Mighell from Contoural, along with Stacey Shaw from Careington, will discuss how organizations can create modern and more compliant records retention schedules that better handle both paper and especially electronic information. They will also cover how to privacy-enable your schedule.
This program originally aired on November 9, 2023. Please note that the on-demand format of this program is not eligible for CLE/CPD credit.
Election of leaders for 2023-2024. The nominees will introduce themselves and provide information about their backgrounds and experience with ACC and the Intellectual Property Network.
Leaders will discuss their roles for the Network, so if you've thought about volunteering, or wondered about the roles in the surveys the ACC is sending out, you can learn a bit more and find contacts if you are interested in collaborating on an IPN project.
Discussion of the U.S. Copyright Office notice of inquiry on copyright and artificial intelligence (AI) and the ACC's opportunity to respond and advocate. Amy Chai of the ACC Advocacy Office will join us to discuss this opportunity for the ACC and individual members to make our voices heard.
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
Facilitators:
Featured Presenters:
In this article, the use of bonds is a common feature of government contracts in Nigeria where the government wishes to ensure that persons who submit bids for such contracts have requisite technical and financial resources to perform their obligations thereunder.
Protecting IP: Top tips for in-house lawyers - presentation held in Melbourne 14 February 2018.
This InfoPAK (now known as ACC Guides) provides a high-level overview of privacy rules and principles in Canada.
This is a sample buyer purchase order terms and conditions.
This is an Office of the General Counsel memorandum on representation case procedure changes.
Sample language for corporate governance guidelines.
This issue discusses nondisclosure agreements, the effectiveness of nondisclosure agreements under Belgium law, and food packaging and labeling.
Guidance on administering an estate in Canada. Includes guidance on delegation of authority, record keeping, compensation, etc.
The crime of fraud is considered a serious fraud if committed against government property or object of value. This may result in a serious punishment such as imprisonment.
The purpose of this plan is to provide a comprehensive Disaster Recovery-Business Continuity Plan (DRBC) for a company to minimize any impact upon continuity of services to customers or employees in the event of a “major business productivity breach.”
While there are numerous reasons in-house attorneys might want to become involved in pro bono work, the business case for it may not seem as established as it is for law firms. In today's changing corporate world, the reasons are equally undeniable. Use this feature to pinpoint business-related benefits of having your legal department perform pro bono work.
“It takes a different mentality to be a successful in-house lawyer than to be a private practice lawyer,” says Adam Walters, assistant general counsel, Asia Pacific for First Solar Inc. It also means being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “The idea that you go in-house to get a cushy job with great work-life balance is not something I have experienced.”
This article discusses knowledge management from the perspective of a lawyer in a large international company, the information is applicable to other companies and law firms of any size.
A review of Colombian Law regulating the protection of personal data. Includes a discussion of obligations arising under Law 1581 and Decree 1377, the steep potential sanctions for noncompliance, as well as recommendations for companies to ensure full compliance with the privacy law.
Do the various companies in the United States stand together in terms of federal legislative and regulatory efforts to harness market forces in reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? The answer is not intuitive, primarily because of the enormous disparity in GHG emission inventories among companies. California utilities, for example, with one of the lowest CO2 inventories in the country, may find themselves on the short end if federal cap-and-trade policy allows tradable rights based on historic CO2 emissions — a starting point that would benefit utilities in coal-burning states. The panel will begin with a brief primer on cap-and-trade basics, and then launch into a debate on the key issues companies will have to work through as they help shape federal cap-and-trade policy for GHG emissions.
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