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Corporate counsel are clear they want their outside legal service providers to keep costs down, with 62.4 per cent ranking it as the most important element in the relation- ship between them and their law firms but law firms don't seem to be hearing that message. "There is an absolute lack of understanding even now, to my amazement, of the tighten- ing of costs inside companies, and law firms keep increasing their internal costs," writes one senior in-house counsel who responded to the survey. "For example, salary freezes are prevalent in many companies and yet law firms increase their annual rates blaming their costs increase. In a competitive industry you can no longer afford to do that." Another respondent adds, "Don't charge us for training law firm staff on our proce- dures." When it comes to billing, although alternative fee arrangements have been the focus of much discussion in the legal com- munity, our survey finds only 4.6 per cent use them, with the majority, 52.7 per cent, still on the billable hour, and 41.2 per cent a combination of billable hours and flat fees. Again this year, in-house counsel ranked costs as the most important issue law firms should be concerned with in regards to their clients. Other things corporate coun- sel say law firms should do, in order of importance, include being more commer- cial/practical, understanding the needs of in-house counsel better from the client perspective, being more creative/innova- tive, being more concerned with results, and being more proactive. Measuring satisfaction One of the survey's big findings was that 85.5 per cent of the respondents say they had not been asked by their legal depart- ment to complete a satisfaction survey in the past 12 months. Only 8.9 per cent had completed one in person, and 5.6 per cent completed one either over the phone or in writing. Surprisingly, this year's results show a downward trend from last year, when 72 per cent of the respondents said they had 50 40 42.6% 30 20 10 0 Reduced Increased No change DO YOU FEEL AN IMPROVING ECONOMIC CLIMATE HAD AN EFFECT ON YOUR DEPARTMENT'S BUDGET? 74.0% NO 26.0% YES 29.4% 27.9% HOW HAS YOUR LEGAL DEPARTMENT BUDGET CHANGED IN THE LAST YEAR? HAS YOUR TOP LAW FIRM ASKED YOUR LAW DEPARTMENT TO COMPLETE A WRITTEN, OVER-THE-PHONE, OR IN-PERSON SATISFACTION SURVEY IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS? Yes, written Yes, over-the-phone 3.2% 3.2% No 85.5% Yes, in-person 8.9% Untitled-5 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 41 10/29/09 4:52:33 PM