In-House Counsel

Having presented the ten most fundamental benchmarks for legal department managers, all of them available from various sources, I mention here ten benchmarks that many general counsel may wish were more available (See my post of July 9, 2009: ten crucial metrics.).

1. Effective hourly rates of law firms that account for 75 percent or more of fees paid
2. Law firms paid more than $5,000 in a year per billion dollars of revenue
3. Settlements, fines and judgments paid as a percentage of revenue
4. Lawyers, who practice some law but are not part of the legal department, even by decentralized reporting ? as a percentage of legal department lawyers
5. Paralegals by practice area
6. International legal spend as a percentage of total legal spend
7. Percentage of lawyers other than in largest location
8. Average years of lawyers with the law department as that number relates to lawyers per billion
9. Outside counsel managed per lawyer in the department who manages outside counsel
10. Chargeable hours actually worked