Canadian Lawyer - sample

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 35 per cent of the 303 respondents said the volume of legal work carried out by their department and external counsel was likely to grow. Having their company in growth mode was the top reason at 72.5 per cent, while 23.9 per cent said they would grow because of a company-made acquisition and 21.1 per cent projected growth based on a one-time project. Mul- tiple respondents noted increasing com- plexity and more activity in the industry as key influencers on their company's growth rate. Despite more than 60 per cent say- ing they expected more work, when asked if the size of their legal depart- ment changed over the past year, only 27.4 per cent said it grew, noting it was because there was more work to be done. A little more than half — 50.8 per cent — said department size remained the same. According to 8.9 per cent, vacant positions were filled, and 12.9 per cent said they saw the legal depart- ment shrink. Rotstein says there is continued growth in in-house departments. When he talks to in-house counsel, there is a consistent theme of getting more work and hiring more lawyers, and as a result, the relationship between external legal providers and in-house departments is changing as well. He says there's a need for a well-stocked in-house legal team that can identify risk and manage it before "the horse has left the barn" and the company ends up in an undesirable situation. When it came to external spend, 27 per cent said it changed because more work was being brought into the legal department, up from 20.4 per cent last year. Only 4.3 per cent said external spend changed because they were send- ing more work out — last year, the number was 9.2 per cent. O'Reilly says there's been a lot of consolidation, and that makes sense given the state of the market, especially in Alberta, where there's been a significant slowdown internally with organizations not under- taking projects like they did in the past or "may be cash-short on the balance sheet. "In order to reduce risk of the legal department losing jobs you want to Litigation support Contract review Alternative staffing Legal research E-discovery Patent document review 43.2 % 37.8 % 24.3 % 27 % 21.6 % 13.5 % WHAT ARE YOU USING ALTERNATIVE SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR? $100,000 or less $101,000-$500,000 $501,000-$1 million $1.1 million to $3 million $3.1 million to $5 million $5.1 million to $10 million More than $10 million 13.5 % 25.1 % 16.2 % 22.1 % 7.6 % 5.6 % 9.9 % WHAT WAS THE EXTERNAL LEGAL SPEND FOR THE CANADIAN LEGAL DEPARTMENT IN YOUR LAST FISCAL YEAR? WHAT ARE THE LEGAL AREAS YOU SEND TO OUTSIDE FIRMS THE MOST? 72.2 % Litigation 50.7 % Employment/labour 30 % Mergers & acquisitions 27.3 % Intellectual property 26.4 % Tax 23.8 % Regulatory matters 20.7 % Securities/corporate finance 18.5 % Real estate 15.4 % General corporate work (contracts, etc.) 15.4 % Class action 9.3 % Environmental 8.8 % IT (contracts, licensing, etc.) 8.8 % Immigration 7 % U.S.-cross border 5.7 % Privacy legislation 4.8 % Other 4.4 % Advertising/marketing 1.8 % Risk mitigation 68.7 % We did 7.8 % Our law fi rm suggested it 23.5 % We have mutually discussed AFAs WHO INTRODUCED THE IDEA OF USING AFAS? (contract lawyers, paralegals) 12 % 5.7 % 80.2 % 3.6 % ARE YOU USING ALTERNATIVE SERVICE PROVIDERS? Onshore Off shore Both Not using "I think we're an evolving legal market where constantly things are tried and if they don't work we try something else." Stephen Rotstein, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association

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