tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5069210070737344160.post6639064386742722627..comments2024-03-28T07:28:02.402+00:00Comments on GC's Eye View: No timesheets! Making the transition from private practice to in-houseTom Kilroyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12341500973865955587noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5069210070737344160.post-58442699893459603562011-07-18T07:22:35.941+01:002011-07-18T07:22:35.941+01:00Great article Tom - really takes some ideas to the...Great article Tom - really takes some ideas to the next level of insight. I particularly liked "what type of business are you joining?" as that brings in lots of different dimensions, from cultural to speed to work-type. For a listed company quarterly reporting can (in my experience) drive both micro and macro level use of legal teams. Micro in that the pressure for quarterly reporting often drives behaviours and work volumes in very powerful ways, and macro in that the role of legal and issues such as governance and risk can be escalated quickly to get traction if needs be. <br /><br />Finally, just a quick comment on Shireen's comment - I also used to record time when in-house, although not all the time. I'd typically do it for a few months to get a sense of where I was spending my time, and then use this to have a discussion with stakeholders to keep aligned, but would then leave off for a while. That said, if I were back in house now, I might be tempted to do it all the time - I'm currently using a really nice open source time recording application called Grindstone2.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5069210070737344160.post-54795357632189803382011-07-17T17:17:55.916+01:002011-07-17T17:17:55.916+01:00Excellent post Tom. I enjoyed it a lot.
When I wor...Excellent post Tom. I enjoyed it a lot.<br />When I worked as an in house lawyer at Reuters back in the late 80's and early 90's, we didn't have time recording. But it seemed to me that the days when in house lawyers didn't time record would be numbered. As soon as the company hit hard times, and began to make redundancies, every department had to justify its position and its headcount. Just as alcohol filled lunches are no longer the norm in the City, so I would have expected the absence of time recording for in house lawyers to be a thing of the past. So, it's interesting to hear that you don't record your time. Is this the norm, or do companies differ on this? I suppose if the company as a whole doesn’t record time, I can understand why it might be odd to have the legal department doing so, but don’t software companies time record? <br />As a law firm although we try to charge fixed fees wherever possible, I've found it illuminating from a management perspective to have staff record their time. It helps me to pick up if staff are spending time doing inappropriate tasks, and generally helps when it comes to supervision of the work. It’s also a very effective way of comparing staff performance objectively. Some people just seem to get far more done than others, and therefore add more value. I guess you must have other ways of assessing your staff’s effectiveness in the job. It would be interesting if you have time in one a future post to hear your thoughts on this.Shireen Smith, Azrightshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00878214320196044240noreply@blogger.com