Canadian Lawyer

budgets stayed the same and if external spending changed it was largely (40.8 per cent) due to an isolated or one-off project. For those who had changes in their budget, 42 per cent said they brought more work inside in 2012, and if the economy declines, 55.3 per cent say they will bring even more work inside. Even if there is an improvement in the economic forecast, 66.2 per cent said they don't plan on sending more work outside the depart- ment — up from 61 per cent last year. As well, 62.7 per cent said they plan to implement new arrange- ments to get more value from the firms they deal with, up from 57.4 per cent last year. "The figures point to observed across the coun- try says Grant Borbridge, Chairman of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association and execu- tive vice president invest- ments and chief counsel with Emergo Group of Companies based in Calgary. "What we hear from our membership is that the requirements on the legal departments are becoming greater and greater and more work is staying in the department. There' and it's to keep costs down. s a reason for that I don't think the equivalent expense for any in-house counsel is going to be $750 an hour and for a good securities lawyer that' what you're going to pay." Another factor, says s a change in the operating model in many compa- nies," says Simon Fish, executive vice president and general counsel with BMO. "More work is being in-sourced than in the past and in response to that we are seeing some growth in legal departments with increasing complexity to matters that were tradi- tionally outsourced. in-house departments are improving their capacity to take on litigation support work that can be costly, leaving the trial work to outside lawyers. "More consideration is being given to the kind of work being sent out. In-house departments have more tools available to them and there is constant demand to prove the value the department is delivering. The trend is being Fish says, in particular, " " Kate Chisholm, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary with Capital Power Corp. in Calgary, is that in her opinion the quality of legal work by internal counsel and external counsel is increasingly becoming equal. "Except in some specialized areas you can get fairly high quality legal done work in-house versus from a firm," says Chisholm. "I know I can provide legal resources internally for an all-in cost of less than $100 an hour versus what I'm paying external counsel. . . . If you are quite satisfied the qual- ity of work you're getting internally is sufficient, it becomes sort of an obvi- ous improvement you can make." Responses to the survey came from a cross-section of departments with 10.7 per cent from legal depart- ments with $10 million or WHAT SECTOR IS YOUR COMPANY/ORGANIZATION IN? 5.9% NON-PROFIT RESOURCE-BASED 14.2% 9.8% FINANCIAL 10.4% SERVICE INDUSTRY/ 15.4% MANUFACTURING 24.6% 13.6% 9% 6.2% PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TECHNOLOGY WHAT WAS THE EXTERNAL LEGAL SPEND FOR THE CANADIAN LEGAL DEPARTMENT LAST YEAR? $100,000 OR LESS $101,000-$500,000 $501,000-$1 MILLION $1 MILLION TO $3 MILLION 17.8% 14.2% 24% 21% GOVERNMENT (municipal, regional, provincial, federal, and First Nations – including boards and tribunals) $3.1 MILLION TO $5 MILLION $5.1 MILLION TO $10 MILLION MORE THAN $10 MILLION 6.5% 5.9% 10.7% ARE YOU LIKELY TO IMPLEMENT NEW ARRANGEMENTS TO GET MORE VALUE FROM THE FIRMS YOU DEAL WITH? 62.7% Yes w w w . CANADIAN Lawyermag.com N O VEMBER / D ECEMBER 2012 35 No 37.3.%

• Cover