Ethics and Law Department Management: View From the Inside 2012 (Audio-only)

Taken from the briefing Ethics and Law Department Management: View From the Inside recorded February, 2012.

Ethical issues facing general counsels trying to manage the law department at major corporations in the post-global financial crisis era include cutting costs through project management; managing litigation involving diverse fee arrangements, creative methods to underwrite costly litigation, and use of temporary legal staffing-on-shoring and off-shoring; updating crisis management and corporate compliance programs; and accomplishing this with limited resources and limited funds.

Ethical issues for the in-house law department in the second decade of the 21st century revolve around corporations, with limited resources after the global financial crisis of 2008, making critical changes in how their legal departments operate in an increasingly international environment.  While reducing outside legal spending remains a top priority, there is now increased pressure to become more productive.  With total legal spending remaining flat or slightly decreasing, more is required with less, as reflected in two key trends.  The first is the changing relationship between law departments and outside counsel.  The second is the use of technology to control and reduce costs and increase efficiency.  This pressure for increased productivity can lead to failure to meet ethical and legal requirements in managing litigation, preserving documents, hiring and retaining the best legal expertise, and retaining the best outside law firms.

What does this mean for legal ethics? What does this mean for law department management?

Lecture Topics  [Total Time: 01:01:45]

Expert faculty will address ethical issues involving:

• Restructuring the legal department
• The role of project management (including chain of custody)
• Use of temporary legal staffing-on-shoring and off-shoring (including the Kovel Privilege)
• Critical trends in the management of law firms and general counsel offices
• Ethical issues involving crisis management, corporate compliance programs, and litigation management

Presentation Material

• Ethics and Law Department Management: View From the Inside (Chapter 9)
  Carole L. Basri, John S. Jenkins, Jr.
• Ethics and Law Department Management: View From the Inside (Chapter 8)
  Carole L. Basri, John S. Jenkins, Jr.
• Ethics and Law Department Management: View From the Inside (Chapter 1)
  Carole L. Basri, John S. Jenkins, Jr.