Compelling Concerns

Economic pressures, regulatory burdens, data security—it seems that the list of concerns continues to grow for chief legal officers (CLO). In a new survey from the Association of Corporate Counsel, CLOs shared the most pressing issues facing their companies, and reported being heavily involved in business strategy. Fortunately, many are getting increased budgets to handle these responsibilities: Two-thirds of respondents said that their in-house budget increased during the past year, while 59 percent saw their outside counsel budgets increase.

81% Chief legal officers who are satisfied with their jobs, down from 92 percent in 2011

87% CLOs who ranked ethics and compliance as an important issue (the most of any response)

78% CLOs who said they spend most of their time participating in strategic corporate issues and advising C-suite executives

72% CLOs who said their budgets increased over the past year

Slumping Sector

After a few months of job growth, the legal services sector took a few steps back last month when it shed more than 2,000 jobs, according to numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There was one silver lining in the January report, namely, that the sector actually added 1,900 jobs in December 2012, which was higher than previously reported. But even with the change, the industry has lost 500 jobs since last November.

2,400 Number of jobs the legal sector lost in January

157,000 Jobs the economy as a whole added last month

1,900 Jobs the legal services industry added in December, revised upwards from the BLS's earlier estimate of 1,000

1.125 million Total number of people who have jobs in the legal field

Class-Action Cash

Plaintiffs firms that handle securities class actions had a good year in 2012, as they raked in fees and court-related expenses of more than $650 million, according to a report from NERA Economic Consulting. The report also found that aggregate settlement amounts increased significantly between 2011 and 2012, although the median proportion of fees to settlements is on the decline.

$653 million Total fees and court-related expenses that these firms collected in 2012, up 4 percent from 2011

$3.3 billion Total amount recovered in class actions last year

$822.5 million Largest fee awarded in 2012, stemming from a 2004 case against American International Group that ended in two partial settlements

22% Increase in aggregate settlement amounts from 2011 to 2012

18.2% Percentage of recovery that went to fees for settlements recovering $100 million to $500 million, down from 24.2 percent in the period between 1996 to 2009