Dennis Kennedy

The 2003 Chief Legal Officer Survey, conducted annually by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Altman Weil, Inc., has just been released.

A few eye-openers:

"59% of Chief Legal Officers surveyed indicated they have fired or were considering firing at least one of their outside law firms in 2003, up 4.2% from 2002 and over 50% for the fourth year running."

"The number one reason given for terminating a relationship was ‘cost management issues,’ followed by ‘lack of responsiveness’ and ‘overworking projects.’"

"When asked about the most innovative practice proposed or instituted by outside counsel this year, CLOs ranked fee arrangements number one — although only 22.6% of respondents were able to identify any innovation at all."

“The current economic pressures on corporations are reverberating in law departments,“ notes Altman Weil principal, Daniel J. DiLucchio. “If law firms don’t show some flexibility and imagination in working with clients on managing costs, they risk losing those clients to a firm that will.”

"When asked about the most important law department management issue they face, CLOs named cost control/budgets three times more often than any other issue."

A PDF copy of the survey may be found at www.acca.com/Surveys/closurvey/2003.pdf.