Corporations Spend More on In-House Lawyers, Less on Outside Firms

• Posted by Geoff Gussis on October 23rd, 2008


• Filed in Law Department Management

There may be a silver lining for in-house counsel in this economic climate - more legal dollars are staying in-house:

Corporations appear to be cutting back on fees to outside law firms as they beef up their own in-house legal staffs. A new survey highlights the shift.

Spending on outside law firms by corporate legal departments dropped by a median of 9.1 percent last year, while outlays for in-house legal departments increased by 11 percent, the American Lawyer reports in a story on the survey findings.

Rising legal fees could be the problem, the story says. Outside law firms hiked hourly rates last year by 6.5 percent, the highest percentage in seven years, the survey found.

Corporations Spend More on In-House Lawyers, Less on Outside Firms | ABA Journal - Law News Now