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OF LAW FIRMS HAVE NOT ASKED THEIR CORPORATE COUNSEL CLIENTS TO COMPLETE A WRITTEN SATISFACTION SURVEY IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS. EMENT F BY JEFFREY H. WAUGH irms take note — you're not the only one who can get the job done. Th is year, Canadian Lawyer/ Canadian Lawyer In- House have joined forces with Catalyst Consulting for our annual corporate counsel survey. We've uncovered a trend some managing partners will fi nd alarming (or perhaps see as an opportunity): only 15 per cent of in-house law departments who re- sponded to the survey say their primary external fi rm performs at a level clearly above their leading competitor. For the other 85 per cent, it means the other fi rms waiting in the wings and ready and willing to step in and eat your lunch at the fi rst sign of trouble. Working with Richard Stock of Cata- lyst Consulting, Canadian Lawyer tar- geted senior vice presidents and general counsel from a wide range of companies and organizations to get accurate, useful, and insightful responses. We received re- sponses from 73 law department leaders, who provided detailed information for the survey. Eighty-fi ve per cent of their Numbers of firms which received the top 80% of the law department's Canadian legal spend. 6 to 10 8% 3 to 5 37% departments were primarily Canadian- based, with the other 15 per cent rep- resenting divisions of an international company. Th e majority of survey responses came from small law departments of fi ve or less lawyers. But despite their size, survey re- sults show the smaller legal departments generally had the highest external spend. Eighty per cent of the departments with an annual external legal spend of over $10 million had 15 or less lawyers. It would follow that the larger departments have more resources to complete work Law departments planning on reviewing their working or financial arrangements with top firms in the next six to nine months. 1 or 2 56% *Figures do not total 100% due to rounding. www. 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% YES 52% NO 48% mag.com NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2008 41