Resource Library

The ACC-Smarter Law Solutions free benchmarking and consultation service (acc.com/smarterlaw) has proven to be a hit since its launch in 2019. While we are thrilled at the positive feedback we’ve received from our clients, we thought that it would be interesting to respond directly to a few widely held hesitancies expressed by those considering a basic benchmarking or performance improvement process. We gathered some of these questions and sent them to Smarter Law Solutions CEO, Trevor Faure for his candid counsel. We were particularly interested in his perspective on concerns about taking on a consultant agreement in these turbulent times for legal operations.

This is a sample employee handbook.

This is an Outside Counsel Master Services Agreement.

Corporate mergers, asset acquisitions, and divestitures often include a variety of environmental components or considerations – some of which can be nuanced – that can affect and can be affected by other non-environmental components.

This article offers six strategic considerations for businesses to successfully navigate the negotiation and execution of transactions involving industries or operations subject to significant environmental regulations.

What compensation do your in-house peers get? Check out the 2023 Law Department Compensation benchmarking survey results. 

Often overlooked are the impacts wildfires can have on oil and gas operations. The potential for wildfires to cause severe damage underscores the need for stringent fire safety protocols. 

This articles provides steps oil and gas operators can take in preparation for and prevention of a wildfire.

This article looks at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposed auditing standards which feature major implications for ESG that could upend corporate audits.

ACC and Everlaw conducted a survey of 373 in-house legal professionals in the United States to better understand the extent to which corporate legal departments are collaborating with other business units, how legal teams are collaborating with their law firms and other vendors, and how technology plays a role in enabling collaboration. The results reveal that although legal staff desire greater collaboration and there is a clear recognition of the benefits of doing so, there are impediments preventing legal teams from realizing that full potential.

Legal Operations professionals know that a significant key to their success is rooted in stakeholder buy-in. Conference after conference, seminar after seminar, we speak *around* what it means to be in-house legal connected to the broader enterprise. We avoid topical change management and stakeholder engagement but never truly get to the underlying subject that takes this from influencer jargon theory to actionable tactics. We cannot all rely solely on our dynamic personalities and winning smiles to woo our coworkers: How do we turn the abstract of interpersonal influence into a real, functional relationship that benefits all involved? Read this article to find out.

This is a brief outline of recent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) developments, together with links to additional materials.