Once upon a time corporate legal departments enjoyed a singular exemption from financial accountability. Lawyers, possessed of unique skills in arcane and impenetrable areas of expertise, were expected to be constantly assessing a changing regulatory and legal landscape. The legal process–transactions and litigation–involve uncontrollable vagaries and variables that were thought to make expense management nearly impossible. With high stakes cases and deals, no expense was to be spared. Predicting costs and adhering to pre-set budgets was not important when spending constraints might present unacceptable risks. Moreover, many corporate lawyers came to the job from law firms where they had been given the same carte blanche to solve their clients’ problems, and had little or no background in business and finance. Controlling costs and creating budgets was a job for bean counters, not lawyers.
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