A sluggish economy may be the perfect time to build in-house legal staff - San Francisco Business Times:

hustenuejib1630.blogspot.com
The talent pool has grown 40 percent to 50percenft year-over-year, said Julie Brush, co-foundingg consultant at LLC. In that kind of companies with their own budget constraints can renegotiatre fees with outsidecounsel — or find new firms and lawyerd to do the same businessa for less. Mary Beth a branch director at Rober tHalf Legal, a legal staffinv consultancy, said companies have begun bringing more work in-house and are quicklhy discovering that, for some matters, havingy on-board specialists can be a money-savingb alternative to outside counsel.
She said Robert Half is seeing a big increass in companieshiring in-house intellectual property attorneys with patent prosecution and licensingf expertise. “That’s mainly becausde there are more of those folkx available over the last three tofour months,” Sinclaire said. “We’ve been talking to some outstandinyg people recently coming out of some of the big firms who were making quiter a bit of money and find themselves unemploye d for the first time intheit careers.
” Compensation for in-house counsel, even at the seniotr level, is much less than outside counsel Brush said companies could realize a savings of up to 200 percen t by bringing on an in-house attorney at a salaryu of $150,000. “Let’s say you have a lot of licensingy and commercialcontracts transactions. If you calculate sending all that work to outside counsel, even to a junior associate who’s billing out at betweebn $300 and $350 an hour — do the It’s an enormous savings,” Brush said. But don’t expect that window of opportunit to remainopen forever.
“Thaft pool dries up as the economy startdto recover,” warned Ross Veltman, a principao at corporate counsel staffing consultancyy and executive director of the . Said simply — don’t wait, according to Most companies look to build their internalo legal departments in the boom timew when the business operations need increasedlegal support, bette r response from outside counselp and faster turnaround time. But that’s exactlyu when attorneys at law firms andexperienced in-house counsel are in highesrt demand.
In the midst of a robustf economy, it’s not uncommon for companies, particularly the smallefr ones, to be disappointed by the lack of service fromoutside counsel. When businesse is good, law firm partners tend to be stretcheed thin, leaving matters with more junior-level “It would be nice if a company coul take advantage right now because there is a suppl of veryexperienced people, not just at the firmsa but people who are experienced in-house Veltman said. “Without a doubt, if a companyy feels that they’re going to be a this is a very good timefor them.” Not everyonew is pumping up their in-house counsel.
There are companiess that are cutting staffd or are not in a position to expand theire legal departments because offinanciaol limitations. “Certainly we’re seeing a lot of shiftingg by corporate counsel lookingat cost-saving Sinclair said. Nonetheless, it’s a buyers’ market these days with regard to outsidelegalo services. Recruiters estimate small to midsizer firms billing outabout $325 to $525 an hour for theitr top partners.
Larger law firms are asking betweenh $550 to $1,000 in some As a result, the currenf economic trough could be a boon for midsizelaw firms, specialty boutiques and solo “It’s a great time to build relationshipa with in-house counsel if you’re a regional firm,” Sinclair said. Erika ’s general counsel, exemplifies the