Rees Morrison

September 04, 2007 | Law.com

As a consultant to law departments on more than a dozen competitive bids, Rees Morrison has found few that do efficient reviews of the responses that they get to their requests for proposals. Many different techniques and methodologies are used in these reviews, but not all of them are productive. Corporate law departments don't compare notes much, and law firms stay mum about competitive bid processes. To remedy that gap, Morrison offers seven innovative tips for conducting competitive bids.

By Rees Morrison

8 minute read

December 08, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Lawyers on both sides of the law-firm invoice divide speak blithely about "value billing." The general idea is that in-house lawyers will compensate their outside firms based not on hours worked and hourly rates but on the benefit their legal services bring to the company. Thus, it's really "value paying."

By Rees Morrison and Paul Morrison

9 minute read

September 17, 2009 | Corporate Counsel

By Rees Morrison

7 minute read

October 01, 2003 | Law.com

N most law departments, reducing outside counsel fees basically boils down to cutting litigation fees. Litigation fees typically account for about three-quarters of what law departments spend on law firms. There are four reliable methods for trimming spending on litigation: unbundling discovery activities, sending legal work offshore, getting competitive bids on groups of cases, and using phased budgets. Here's how each of these techniques work. Unbundling discovery activities. The traditional model of liti

By Rees Morrison

7 minute read

August 21, 2003 | Law.com

For most law departments, reducing outside counsel fees boils down to reducing litigation fees. Because litigation fees typically account for around three-quarters of what law departments spend on law firms, techniques that target litigation spending deserve special mention. This article discusses four methods that can reduce litigation spending, while making corporate law departments think more creatively about it.

By Rees Morrison

9 minute read

February 25, 2011 | Corporate Counsel

We can understand law departments and their operations in a different, far-reaching and fruitful way if we apply the concepts and analytic techniques of network theory.

By Rees Morrison

8 minute read

August 01, 2005 | New Jersey Law Journal

Recognizing possible successors for senior positions in a law department, grooming those candidates and promoting them without untoward repercussions are challenges for many general counsel. Following are some of the biggest obstacles general counsel face in this regard, and how to overcome them.

By Rees Morrison and Julia Hayhoe

6 minute read

September 10, 2008 | Corporate Counsel

In a world that favors pay-for-performance, bonuses dangled by law departments for firms that achieve an especially desirable outcome are in vogue. The seeming simplicity of promising a cash sweetener if your law firm succeeds as agreed, however, glosses over some concerns, says consultant Rees Morrison. He discusses several of those concerns and then offers some curative techniques to put into practice.

By Rees Morrison

8 minute read

December 07, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Much has been said about the balance between what legal departments pay law firms and what they get — the so-called value gap. Yet much remains confused and unclear about that term, value. We will never reach consensus on law firm value, says Rees Morrison, because too many things are at work. He offers 12 propositions that sort out key ideas that influence the impasse.

By Rees Morrison

8 minute read