Serengeti GC Survey

Serengeti came out with their annual survey of in-house counsel at the ACCA meeting last month.   Here are a few highlights:

• -  76% of in-house counsel require budgets for some of their work, up dramatically from previous years.

-  Referrals from other in-house counsel, approved company lists and trusted outside counsel is still the number one way GC's select new counsel.

-  16% of in-house counsel use web-based applications (extranets) to manage outside work.  31% say they plan on using such systems in the future.

-  50% of in-house counsel fired outside counsel last year for the following reasons:  lack of responsiveness, too high fees/costs, and poor quality work/results.

-  On fees, the study said, "However, outside counsel costs are less of an issue now than they were in previous years. For the first time, “reducing outside legal costs” was not named as the most pressing issue for in-house counsel (even though it still ranks as the second greatest concern). The top issue of concern for in-house counsel in 2004 was “keeping apprised of company activities that may have legal implications”—in other words, compliance. This may be in part because of the increased oversight necessary as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley and other statutes, as well as recent high-profile litigation relating to compliance issues. "

The Press Release  can be found on the Serengeti web site.  Another good post on what in-house counsel is looking for can be found on Amy Campbell's blog.