Resource Library

Allstate's two-way performance assessment process for in-house lawyers and outside law firms is described, with links to performance surveys used by both groups.

In this ACC Leading Practices Profile, learn from the corporate social responsibility programs of five organizations. Understand how their approaches integrate social and environmental imperatives into business operations and interactions with stakeholders.

Department leaders profiled here offer vital advice on how to capture and use metrics results to drive enhanced law department and outside counsel performance.

This Leading Practices Profile features the best practices of five ACC law department members for planning and hosting successful legal retreats. In the wake of the economic downturn and increased pressure to do more with less, these participating corporations share their best planning practices to deliver retreats that inspire, teach, and fortify legal teams to continue delivering results to their organizations that will offset meeting costs.

Diversity initiatives continue to grow and change with corporate business models: taking on a different complexion when applied in companies with significant global presence and offering new challenges in an era defined by bottom-line attention to corporate compliance and social responsibility. Read ACC's newest leading practice profile and find out how the legal departments of 10 different companies have developed diversity initiatives that are making a difference.

In this latest Leading Practices Profile, ACC profiles the leading mediation and arbitration practices of two law departments operating in the Asia-Pacific region to learn how they approach alternative dispute resolution efforts. As part of the project, ACC also presents the views of experts and leading ADR organizations that offer alternative dispute resolution services for commercial disputes in the region.

This Leading Practices Profile continues the series of ACC Leading Practices Profiles examining the role of law department leaders and in-house counsel in managing the legal affairs of companies doing business abroad.

This Leading Practices Profile, a supplement to ACC’s 2006 Leading Practices Profile, Contract Management for Small Law Departments, features law department leading contract management practices of seven entities. These entities provided background on databases and repository systems, as well as contract review, approval and archiving policies. In addition, participants shared key practices for successful program implementation and best contract administration practices. This supplement expands the scope of the 2006 Profile to include entities with medium and large law departments.

More than ever before, corporate boards and their lawyers are squarely in the spot light. Transparency, independence, and informed decision-making are among important governance program features that many believe will help keep companies on track. Companies such as Alcan Inc, Avnet Inc, Bell Canada Enterprises, Cargill Incorporated, ChevronTexaco, Intel Corporation, Lyondell Chemical Company, and Praxair, Inc. share information on board structure and function, board-level practices related to broader governance initiatives, and describe the role of in-house lawyers in helping to develop these programs.

This Leading Practices Profile, an update to ACC’s 2005 Leading Practices Profile, Leading Practices in Law Departments Adding Value and Moving Beyond the Cost Center Model, features law department leading practices for generating and demonstrating value to the organization, as well as best practices for improving the bottom line and optimizing collaboration with business units. In the wake of the economic downturn and increased pressure to “do more with less,” 10 participating corporations share their best value-generating and value-sustaining practices in law department staffing, targeted practice areas, outside counsel management, strategic planning and the use of metrics to measure and track value practices.