In-House Counsel

Twelve problems with broad, commercial benchmark surveys of law department metrics

By Rees Morrison

From the standpoint of a typical general counsel, the benchmark surveys you can buy leave several scars and irritations.

1. Sometimes subsidiaries submit responses, which skews the results.
2. Many questions on the survey may not matter to you.
3. Generic questions applicable to all don?t fit the nuances of your industry
4. They take forever to complete, irritating staff and administrators.
5. The surveyors badger you to take part and then to check or complete answers.
6. The surveyors shoehorn participants into industries, sometimes very broad ones.
7. They cost an arm and a leg for what you get.
8. The time between submission and receipt of the report is months and months.
9. Once a year they come out, even though you want data sooner than that.
10. The reports generated may only be tables.
11. The reports don?t suggest what you might do if your metrics are out of kilter.
12. The survey may be bundled with data you don?t care about, such as compensation or performance measurements.

A solution? A targeted benchmark effort where you select the companies and the data. Modestly, I urge you to visit my website and consider a fixed-price offering.

Full post as published by Law Department Management on May 24, 2009 (boomark / email).