About Huron

The Huron Legal Institute

The Huron Legal Institute provides continuing education and thought leadership on issues of importance to companies and law firms through briefings, institutes, surveys and white papers.

Article: Technology in the Law Department: An Overview of What You Really Need and Why
There is a vast array of technology systems available to law departments today, ranging from core products like matter management/e-billing systems to highly sophisticated management reporting systems and web portals. How do you identify the technology your department really needs, and how do you justify its expense? A systematic approach to technology planning – understanding what is available, identifying your department’s needs, and evaluating the proposed system’s cost effectiveness – will help avoid costly mistakes and will lead to the selection of the right technology to yield the most effective long-term benefits.

Podcast: Global Law Department Priorities and Operational Challenges: Looking Forward to 2012
In this podcast, Huron Legal's Julia Chain, a former general counsel and managing partner, and Joy Saphla, an experienced legal management and operations consultant, discuss the priorities of global law department leaders and the current challenges and opportunities facing law departments in the Americas and Europe.

2011 IMPACT Benchmarking Survey
The 2011 Huron Legal/General Counsel Forum IMPACT® Benchmarking Survey results were presented at the recent annual meeting of The General Counsel Forum. The survey results demonstrate that structured operational efficiency programs reduce external legal spend. Law departments that establish purposeful, data-driven outside counsel sourcing and management programs, closely monitor budgets, and utilize legal technology consistently achieve lower spending ratios than those that continue to conduct “business as usual.”

Read the executive summary of the Survey results. If you did not take the survey but would like to purchase the full survey report, please contact Joy Saphla, 713-222-5922, or Kevin Blodgett, 713-222-5980.

Podcast: Cross-Border Discovery: In-Country Data Review
In this 12-minute podcast, Huron Legal’s Nigel Murray discusses the challenges EU data privacy laws present for the production of data housed overseas in US litigation. He addresses some of the advantages and disadvantages of collecting, processing, and filtering data within the country where it is housed prior to sending it to the US.

Article: Ten Practical Tips for the New General Counsel
A new General Counsel (GC) has very little time to reflect on his or her career achievement. In today’s fast-paced world, expectations are high and doing more with less is often required in short order. This article offers ten practical tips to help the new GC quickly assess the department, cast his or her vision for the future and begin to make a mark.

Article: Cross-Border Discovery: Evolving Issues and Challenges
Global expansion of companies and technology developments such as cloud computing have significantly increased the likelihood that U.S. litigants will have data housed outside the country and will therefore be involved in cross-border discovery. There are broad differences between how the U.S. and the E.U. address the processing of personal information, stemming from fundamental philosophical dichotomies regarding the nature of “privacy” and the legal system and conduct of litigation. Because of these differences, efforts in U.S. litigation or investigations to discover data housed in the E.U. can be fraught with complications and can lead to possible sanctions or criminal liability in one or the other jurisdiction. This paper summarizes a Briefing hosted by the Huron Legal Institute in Houston, and discusses some of the challenges and a few practical take-away tips offered by the panelists.

Article: 2011 Cost Savings and Challenges in E-Discovery Survey: More E-Discovery Matters, Increase in Costs on the Horizon
Huron Legal is pleased to report the results of its second annual survey on Cost Savings and Challenges in E-Discovery. This year's survey revisited issues regarding costs and cost control, and asked new questions regarding emerging issues such as cloud computing, social media, and cross-border discovery.

Survey respondents expect a continued increase in the number of matters involving e-discovery as well as a continued increase in e-discovery costs. Respondents are engaging in a variety of cost control measures, focusing in large part on efforts to limit the scope and volume of data through negotiation, process improvement, and the use of new technology. Respondents believe that more can be done by the courts and through rule amendments, yet many do not take advantage of all the protections in Federal Rule of Evidence 502.

Article: Organizational Effectiveness: The New Imperative for Developing a World-Class Legal Department
This InfoPAKSM examines the concept of organizational effectiveness and how corporate counsel can use its principles to effectively develop an international, “world-class” legal department. The InfoPAK focuses primarily on “soft” organizational development issues, including those relating to development of a shared vision and organizational culture for the legal department, and development of the people who make up the department.

This InfoPAK was written by Huron Legal and produced by ACC. ACC is the world’s largest community of in-house counsel, with more than 25,000 members in over 70 countries. This quality resource is one of many resources that ACC provides to its members. For more information, please visit www.acc.com/resources or email membership@acc.com.

Webinar:
Law Department Benchmarking: Three key “value adds” from a general counsel’s perspective
The ability to benchmark is a key asset in a general counsel’s pools of resources.  It provides law department leaders a wealth of information and lends statistical support for critical internal discussions and decision making regarding departmental performance, budgets, cost control and operating efficiency.

In this three minute discussion, we draw upon a former general counsel’s experience to define the three key “value adds” that benchmarking delivers for a law department.

Article: Law Department Cost Management: A comprehensive approach and tactical solutions
Law departments are under pressure to significantly reduce costs. Over half of the respondents to a recent survey of chief legal officers indicated that the economic downturn had a considerable impact on their departments, resulting in budget cuts, increased focus on controlling costs and increasing productivity, and limiting the amount of fees paid to outside counsel. Most respondents expect cost constraints to be a continuing issue. In spite of these financial pressures, workloads are likely to increase as a result of compliance requirements, potential increases in litigation, and heightened regulatory scrutiny.