2018 Daily Business Review Professional Excellence Awards

Legal Departments of the Year

Deadline: March 1

The Legal Department of the Year contest recognizes Florida's top in-house legal departments in distinct categories. To qualify, the departments must be led by lawyers in Florida. Please include the company name and Florida In-House on the subject line. Each essay should be no more than 500 words, and please include Law Department information, as detailed below, to accompany each submission. The awards are based on success stories: how a given corporate counsel's office, regardless of its size, came up with innovative programs, used ingenuity to solve problems or surmounted a scarcity of resources and still delivered a high quality of client service. We're also looking for those individual GCs who made an impact on their companies and the legal community in the past year. If you know a GC or in-house counsel who had an outstanding year, let us know and tell us why.

Among the general questions you should try to address in your entry:

  • What makes your legal department special? Tell us how your department stands out from the crowd.
  • Have you faced any litigation challenges in the last year? If so, tell us about them.
  • How have you managed outside counsel?
  • Have you had any important developments in your use of technology?
  • Do you have significant pro bono programs? What kind of quality-of- life initiatives have you attempted? Law Department Information Please provide the following information
  • Company
  • Headquarters
  • Industry
  • Number of lawyers in Florida
  • Number of lawyers in the United States
  • Number of lawyers worldwide
  • Contact person (include phone and email)

1. Legal Department of the Year

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Your most significant litigation activities in the last year, including pretrial achievements, trial victories, arbitrations and settlements.
  • Any unique strategies for multiple litigation matters, such as lawsuits involving the same product.
  • Any out-of-the-ordinary nonlitigation matters in the last year, such as working on a major merger or corporate transaction or responding to a government investigation.
  • Describe any unique strategies for routine nonlitigation matters, such as patent applications or employment contracts.
  • In describing all matters, please provide specific details about what your in-house lawyers did in each case. Please limit yourself to accomplishments that occurred during 2017 (though you can describe work done in prior years that contributed to the accomplishment).

2. Outside Counsel Management

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • How do you choose outside counsel, for example, on a case-by-case basis or from a preferred providers list?
  • Describe any innovative selection techniques to choose outside counsel that you used in 2017.
  • By what percentage did your spending on outside counsel increase or decrease in 2017?
  • Describe any innovative fee arrangements that you reached with outside counsel in 2017.
  • Describe any other major innovations in managing outside counsel that you've put in place.
  • Describe your most significant litigation activities in the last year, including pretrial achievements, trial victories, arbitrations and settlements.

3. Technology

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Any innovative uses of technology that your legal department put into place in 2017. We're specifically interested in how people use technology, how it's made work in the department easier and more efficient and any savings derived from a change in technology.
  • Describe a problem you used technology to solve. Give specifics.

4. Diversity and Quality of Life

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • The current percentage of women attorneys among your lawyers and the change from the previous year?
  • The current percentage of minorities among your lawyers? (Please specify for African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American and other minority American.) How have these percentages changed from the previous year?
  • Describe in detail how you encourage and reward diversity — both in your legal department and at your outside law firms.
  • Do you have a defined route for the advancement of your in-house lawyers? If so, describe.
  • Describe any innovative or flexible time arrangements for your in-house lawyers.

5. Pro Bono and Community Service

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Do you have a formal pro bono or community service program? Please describe.
  • How do you encourage your in-house lawyers to participate?
  • Are you a signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge?
  • Describe significant pro bono or community service projects that your department worked on in the last year. Please provide the number of attorneys and hours contributed to each project.
  • Describe how your pro bono efforts have had a positive impact on your community. Give specifics.

6. Corporate Compliance

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Any innovative compliance programs that your legal department put in place in 2017.
  • How have you creatively communicated compliance information to all employees to ensure they understand and adhere to company policy?
  • How have you used technology to help manage your compliance program?

7. Solo GCs

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Solo GCs face their own unique challenges. Tell us how it works at your company.
  • How many years have you held the in-house position?
  • What are your major responsibilities?
  • Do you have additional titles at your company?
  • Describe the work performed by outside counsel.
  • How many employees does your company have?

8. Rising Stars

Please submit a short essay (no more than 500 words). Among the areas you should address are:

  • Does this company have an exceptional young up-and-comer in the legal department? If so, tell us what sets this person apart from their peers.

Contact DBR Managing Editor Catherine Wilson with any questions at [email protected].

Please send nomination forms by email to [email protected].