Bad News for Law Firms: Half the GCs Surveyed Are in a Firing Mood
Law firms hired by in-house counsel may be seeing less work this year, or none at all.
About half the chief legal officers surveyed by Altman Weil say they have fired, or may fire, some of their outside counsel, the Recorder reports. Last year only around one-third were giving their outside counsel the ax, or considering it.
Even law firms that are retained may see less work. Twenty-six percent of the chief legal officers said they planned to decrease their use of outside counsel this year, compared to around 16 percent who had such plans last year.
Asked to rank the most important factors that could improve their working relationships with outside firms, the respondents identified discounted fees, improved responsiveness, better project staffing and familiarity with the company’s business as most important.
The legal consulting firm’s survey (PDF), conducted in May and June, garnered responses from 126 chief legal officers, nearly half of them from companies with revenues of $2 billion to $10 billion.
Meanwhile, the survey holds some good news for lawyers who want to move in-house. Almost half the general counsel planned to hire more in-house lawyers, compared to around 40 percent last year.
