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WHAT SECTOR IS YOUR COMPANY/ORGANIZATION IN? 4.8% Non-profi t "There is a real disconnect between the economics being reported by bank and government economists and [what is] being experienced commercially by compa- nies — between real today and what is pro- jected to happen on an annualized basis," says Stephen Mabey, managing director of Applied Strategies Inc. "As a result, legal departments are being held accountable to the same standards or criteria being applied to their counterpart departments." As a result, it is becoming harder for legal departments to explain to management that their spending and budget patterns need to be different from the rest of the company or organization, says Mabey, and it will be interesting to see if even when the economy reaches previous high levels whether legal departments ever regain the status they had in the past. In fact, the survey's respondents con- firm the widely held belief that the cost- cutting moves implemented during the recession are here to stay. Only 5.5 per cent say they are likely to roll back the cuts, 63 per cent say they will not, and 31.5 per cent are not sure. This year, 165 corporate counsel responded to the Canadian Lawyer survey, with 15 per cent coming from legal depart- ments that had $10 million or more in legal spending in the last fiscal year, 37.6 per cent spent less than $1 million, and 31 per cent came from departments that had between $1 million and $3 million in legal costs. Almost half, 49 per cent, came from small legal departments with less than five lawyers. And there was also an even dis- tribution between the sectors represented, with the service sector leading at 21 per cent, followed by the financial sector at 20.6 per cent as well as industry/manufacturing and government at all levels, both hovering around 13 per cent. While not every respondent answered every question, the trend remains clear that in-house legal departments are still in saving mode, with 58 per cent of the corporate coun- sel saying they brought more work inside their departments to deal with the changes in the budgets. And in terms of budgets, 36.4 per cent of those polled say they negotiated 20.6% Financial 21.2% Service 10.9% Resource-based WHAT WAS THE EXTERNAL LEGAL SPEND FOR THE CANADIAN LEGAL DEPARTMENT IN YOUR LAST FISCAL YEAR? 8.5% $100,000 or less $101,000-$500,000 $501,000-$1 million $1 million to $3 million $3.1 million to $5 million $5.1 million to $10 million More than $10 million 4.8% 15.2% MOST IMPORTANT THINGS LAW FIRMS CAN DO TO IMPROVE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR COMPANY 1 Be more concerned with costs 2 Be more commercial/practical 3 Understand our needs better from a client perspective 4 Be more creative/innovative overall 5 Be more concerned with results 6 Be more proactive 7 Other 17.6% 11.5% 30.9% 11.5% Government (municipal, regional, provincial, federal, and First Nations – including boards and tribunals) 16.4% Technology Financial 20.6% Industry/manufacturing 13.3% 12.7% www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 39