Meet an In-House Cost-Cutter Who Believes in Fixed Fees

As general counsel of Cisco Systems Inc., Mark Chandler is required to run the company’s legal department precisely how other corporate groups there are run. Despite the unique demands on in-house lawyers created by the burdens of corporate compliance, increased regulation and uncertainties of litigation, the department is driven by metrics the same way that Cisco’s manufacturing, human resources and sales groups are.

Indeed, Chandler has earned a reputation within the in-house community for meeting these mounting demands on legal departments while also coping effectively with ever-increasing pressures to contain costs. At Cisco, which sells computer networking products and routing and switching systems, total legal spending now amounts to just a little over one-third of 1 percent of company revenue, with nonlitigation expenses running at about .16 percent. Translated into dollars, Chandler’s 170-lawyer department is spending some $38 million internally and $80 million a year on outside counsel. The $32.8 billion company has 51,000 employees working in 80 countries.