Janet Kelley was hired as general counsel of Meijer Inc. just a year ago, so she doesn't have a pre-recession context to compare to her current position. Nonetheless, containing costs is a top priority for any retailer in a recession, and litigation is often the biggest line item to attack.

It's also one of the most difficult functions to manage in-house, but Kelley says it's essential for the law department to make all the big decisions.

“It's critical for anyone who has any substantial amount of litigation,” she says. “You have to be sure that you have both the numbers and the appropriate skill set in-house to very actively manage outside counsel. They are litigators, and their goal is to win a case. Yours is cost management.”

Meijer has a litigation load common to any retailer its size, mostly a blend of liability, contract disputes and employment cases. Getting top value for every litigation dollar, Kelley says, hinges on making the right decisions in-house.

“You not only maximize control of outside counsel fees, but you provide a different service because you have people who can make decisions based on the culture and the risk appetite of the company,” she says. “That's not the kind of decision-making that outside counsel can or should be doing.”