The American Bar Association has waded into the debate over legal outsourcing with an ethics opinion blessing the outsourcing trend as “a salutary one for our globalized economy.” Companies operating in India — the most popular destination for legal outsourcing because it has a common-law system and English is widely spoken — were quick to hail the advisory by the ABA’s ethics committee as a major step forward for their nascent industry.

Law.com - ABA Gives Thumbs Up to Legal Outsourcing

The legal profession has come a long way when it comes to in-house counsel blowing the whistle, says attorney C. Evan Stewart. Not only have we loosened our ethical obligations to clients, we have created the means by which we now can sue clients for discharge, using privileged communications against them. This, in Stewart’s view, is a slippery slide away from the ideals of zealous client representation, based upon the principle of clients’ absolute confidence in their attorneys’ duty of confidentiality.

In-House Counsel as Whistleblower: A Rat Without a Remedy?

When there are fireworks at a Capitol Hill hearing, the lawyers sit next to their clients and, at each pause, whisper something that we can only guess is a variant of “shut up.” But the witnesses at a recent Senate hearing were the lawyers: the top in-house attorneys for Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., and Yahoo Inc. And they put on a show they might have advised their clients to shun. At times the legal chiefs treated the room as though it were the OK Corral.

In-House Attorneys for Yahoo, Google and Microsoft Take Shots at Each Other

Here are some featured in-house counsel jobs - many more are available at our Job Board (jobs.inhouseblog.com). If you are looking for patent or IP jobs, you should also check out Patently-O’s Job Board.

• General Counsel to the President - CIRM, San Francisco, CA
• Corporate Counsel (International Co.) - Robert Half Legal, Coral Gables, Florida
• Chemical Patent Counsel - Acushnet Company, Fairhaven, MA
• General Counsel - Senior Manager - Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, MD
• General Counsel - CMRW, New York, NY
• Legal Counsel - International - Dunkin’ Brands, Inc., Canton, MA
• Counsel - Confidential, Northern Virginia, VA

Is your law department in cost-cutting mode? Los Angeles lawyer Gerald Knapton has been there and done that. He’s an expert in fee disputes and cost containment, and in this economic climate, attorneys with his skills are in high demand:

“I’m busier now than I have ever been,” Knapton told the Daily Journal (sub. req.). Knapton says the reason is the inefficient law firm billing model that charges clients for inexperienced associates. But several others interviewed by the Daily Journal pointed to the economy and said it is leading to an increase in billing disputes.

GCs Give More Scrutiny to Legal Bills, Spurring More Fee Disputes | ABA Journal - Law News Now

By canvassing some current and former GCs, Michael C. Ross has collected some pet peeves shared by general counsel about outside lawyers involving quality, service, cost and relationship issues. In-house attorneys may recognize these complaints, such as lack of responsiveness or “arrogant” attitudes. And outside counsel may learn some key tips. For one, don’t treat your client like Rodney Dangerfield.

GCs’ Pet Peeves

Attorney Michael P. Maslanka offers some reading suggestions for general counsel to cap off the summer or gird for the fall. And for those who lament that they have no time to read books that don’t produce immediate results, Maslanka says the value of a book, like that of a blind date, isn’t because it’s predictable but because it’s random. Who knows what idea will strike you, taking you off in who knows what direction?

The Best End-of-Summer Books for GCs

Will a new online service unleash new hordes of potential claimants? We’ll see, as WhoCanISue.com is launching soon….

“We allow our users to find information about their potential legal claims and determine whether they are qualified for a particular claim without disclosing confidential information. Then our patent pending model pairs them with attorneys from their area who handle similar claims.

“We built our service around what people find everywhere else on the Web today: The ability to get an immediate answer without revealing confidential details or giving out their name and phone number. This will make WhoCanISue.com the go to choice when people feel they’ve been wronged and are looking for answers.”

The unique process used by WhoCanISue.com also ensures that cases are not jeopardized inadvertently, a common pitfall of some other approaches to online matchmaking. Because WhoCanISue.com does not require submission of open-ended descriptions of the facts of the user’s claim, users are not forced to divulge information that could be deemed a waiver of the attorney-client priviledge resulting in the information being introduced in court and used against them.

WhoCanISue.com does not generate “leads” to potential clients, a method commonly used in online legal marketing that violates ethical rules governing most attorneys’ advertising. Instead, WhoCanISue.com’s patent pending model allows attorneys to bid on real-time ad placements — usually limited to five attorneys — delivered to users who have completed question paths to determine their qualification for a particular claim. The user then reviews the profiles of the attorneys and can initiate an instant message or telephone call with the attorney, or can request that the firm contact the user about his or her claim.

Read the press release at TechWeb: The Business Technology Network.