A comparison of key metrics of numerous law departments based on matching their 2009 and 2010 data defuses some myths of tightened belts and tumultuous change. This groundbreaking analysis of year-over-year differences also suggests a methodology to think about and calculate productivity of law departments. Covering both points, this article first explains the findings from the two-year snapshot of changes in metrics, then draws some conclusions from those insights, and closes with a discussion of the productivity model.To start, consider aggregate changes in a large group of law departments during a period in which some people predicted a sea change, a watershed for the legal industry. Midway through this year, the General Counsel Metrics benchmark survey included 122 Canadian or U.S. law departments that provided their fiscal year 2009 data last year and also provided data for 2010. From that year-over-year data on changes in headcount and budgets we can assess the force of change. (The companies are listed by name, industry and country in the reports that go out to participants.)

Dramatic change was not evident from the increase in the revenue of the companies these departments serve; in total it rose by 4.6 percent to just above $800 billion. Nor was it detectable from layoffs. Quite the opposite: The legal departments in the aggregate added 4 percent more lawyers (123 of them), 5 percent more paralegals (48 paralegals) and 1 percent other legal staff.

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