As part of its annual Future Law Office research project, Robert Half Legal interviewed numerous professionals in the legal field, including experts in law firm and corporate legal department management, as well as our own legal staffing specialists throughout North America. Our findings also are based on information from state and national legal publications and associations.

Robert Half Legal regularly commissions surveys on a variety of workplace and legal management issues. Relevant findings from these studies, which include responses from 300 attorneys among the top law firms and corporate legal departments in the United States and Canada, are cited throughout the Future Law Office report. Sources, including experts and articles consulted by Robert Half Legal, are listed below.

Legal Experts

Cesar Alvarez, executive chairman, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Norman Bacal, managing partner, Heenan Blaikie LLP
Jeffrey W. Carr, vice president, general counsel and secretary, FMC Technologies Inc.
Carl DeLuca, senior legal counsel, Vale S.A.
Frederick J. Krebs, president, Association of Corporate Counsel
Loren McRoss, senior patent counsel, Sony Corporation of America
Ashish Nanda, Robert Braucher professor of practice; research director, Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard University
Veta T. Richardson, executive director, Minority Corporate Counsel Association
Mike Rizzo, hiring and professional development partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge
Mike Roster, chair of steering committee, ACC Value Challenge
James R. Ukropina, Esq., Of counsel, O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Charles A. Volkert, executive director, Robert Half Legal
Harley Winger, partner, Burstall Winger LLP
Frank Wu, managing director, Protiviti Inc,
Yee–Yoong Yong, partner, Epps Yong & Coulson, LLP

Bibliography

2009 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey. Available at: www.serengetilaw.com.

Barback, Spencer and Rick Hayden. "Law Firm Survival: Tough Economic Times Call for Sound Management." Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, January 2009.

Barbarosh, Craig A. "Law Firms Need a Focused Strategy for the New Economy." Special to Law.com, Oct. 2, 2009.

"Controlling Outside Counsel Legal Spend Surpasses Compliance Requirements as Top Concern for In–house Counsel." Press release summarizing highlights of the 2009 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey, Oct. 19, 2009. Available at: www.acc.com.

Culvahouse, Jr., A.B. "A Shift That Can Benefit All of Us." Corporate Counsel, Oct. 16, 2009.

Lippe, Paul. "Welcome to the Future: It’s All About Quality." The AmLaw Daily, Sept. 29, 2009.

Loomis, Tamara. "Has the Recession Forever Changed Large Law Firms?" The American Lawyer, Oct. 6, 2009.

Miller, Amy. "United Technologies Takes a Stand, Puts Billable Hour 'on Life Support.'" Corporate Counsel, Nov. 23, 2009.

Needles, Zach. "How to Start a New Small Firm in This Economy? Target Emerging High–Tech Clients." The Legal Intelligencer, Nov. 5, 2009.

Neil, Martha. "Orrick Axes Lockstep Pay and Staffing, Amps Up Training in New Practice Model." ABA Journal, July 1, 2009.

Passarella, Gina. "Law Firms Look at Process Management." The Legal Intelligencer, Oct. 20, 2009.

Passarella, Gina. "(Snip Snip) Law Departments Putting Cost–Cutting Into Action." The Legal Intelligencer, Oct. 19, 2009.

Qualters, Sheri. "Outside Counsel Spending Projected to Drop by 4.3 Percent Next Year." The National Law Journal, Oct. 12, 2009.

Raymond, Nate. "Boutiques Slicing Into Big Firms' Pie." New York Law Journal, Jan. 4, 2010.

Robert Half Legal 2010 Salary Guide.

Royal, Amanda. "Bingham McCutchen to Adopt 'Merit Lockstep' System." The Recorder, Oct. 6, 2009.

Van der Pool, Lisa. "Smaller Law Firms Cashing in on Bankruptcies." Boston Business Journal, Oct. 9, 2009.

Wildisen, Greg. "Disruptive Technologies." New Law Journal, Feb. 6, 2009.

Wu, Frank. "Skyrocketing Costs and the Impact of E–Discovery." Powerful Insights, Protiviti Inc., June 2009.

Zillman, Claire. "Was the Lateral Flight from AmLaw Firms to Startup Boutiques Worth It?" The American Lawyer, Feb. 3, 2010

Links of Interest

American Bar Association
www.abanet.org

Association of Corporate Counsel
www.acc.com

Canadian Bar Association
www.cba.org

FindLaw
www.findlaw.com

Law.com
www.law.com

Law Library Resource Xchange
www.llrx.com

Minority Corporate Counsel Association
www.mcca.com

The National Law Journal
www.nlj.com

Protiviti Inc.
www.protiviti.com

Serengeti
www.serengetilaw.com

U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics
www.bls.gov