ACC's 2011 Census Report

Survey March 2012

Based on responses from over 5,800 in-house counsel representing more than 4,100 companies in the United States and Canada, ACC's 2011 Census Report offers legal departments, law firms, and other legal service providers with insights into the largest ever sampling of the in-house counsel community.

The report includes an executive summary, key findings, and full data reporting on outside legal spend, compensation, demographics, and legal department structures. Notable findings identified in the report reflect developments in the areas of outside counsel representation, compensation, hiring patterns, department structures, primary specialties and women and minority in-house counsel trends.

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For in-house counsel, the report can help you:

• Evaluate your department's use of outside legal counsel in relation to current trends.
• Assess your compensation compared to your peers.
• See how similar organizations structure their legal departments.

For law firms and legal service providers, the report can help you:

• Anticipate hiring trends and what work will be outsourced by in-house counsel.
• Identify industries and practice areas that will require increased use of vendors and firms.
• Evaluate corporate legal department staffing, budgets and expenditures.

Excerpt:

"Department Structures: A significant change in how legal departments are structured has taken place since 2006. Now, nearly three in four departments are centrally organized: Attorneys are housed in the corporate center rather than in far-flung business units. A full 73% of corporate law departments are now organized this way, up from 55% in 2006. In general, a centralized law department is viewed as carrying more prestige and as being closer to the center of power in a corporation. Again, this change may reflect a boost in the perceived importance of in-house counsel."

Author

Association of Corporate Counsel

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