Ever have a sneaking suspicion that other legal departments know something you dont about how to save on costs? Well, maybe they do. But you dont have to be out of the loop, according to a new analysis by CEB.
The member-based advisory company works with 1,150 legal departments around the globe, and recently surveyed 180 in-house departments (88 percent of them at companies based in North America) to examine the different practices amongst comparable departments with the highest expenses and lowest expenses.
The result is an analysis called 9 Efficiency Trends to Watch for in Legal. CorpCounsel.com caught up with CEB managing director Sampriti Ganguli to discuss some of the surveys top findings.
1. Perform more work in-house
Yes, its true: to save money, try doing more in the legal departmentas opposed to outside of the department. At most companies surveyed, legal departments devote about 60 percent of their spend to outside counsel. But, says Ganguli, the most cost-effective department can get that number down to 40 percent. So start thinking about a 60 (in-house)/40 (outside counsel) split.
