75% of GCs Expect Lower 2009 Budgets
Most general counsel responding to a survey are expecting lower budgets next year and voicing concern about outside counsel costs.
Nearly 75 percent of general counsel responding to a November survey (PDF) by legal consultants Altman Weil said their legal departments are facing budget cuts averaging 11.5 percent next year, according to a press release.
Most of the budget savings will be found in cuts in outside legal spending. Sixty-five percent of the 115 respondents said they would bring more legal work in-house, 53 percent said they would give additional work to lower-priced outside lawyers, and 50.5 percent said they would require more outside fee arrangements.
But some in-house legal departments—and the lawyers who work there—will also share in the pain. Thirty-one percent of general counsel plan to cut lawyer and administrative staff in 2009; and 21 percent plan to cut paralegal positions. Twenty-nine percent plan to cut lawyer compensation while 19 percent say they will reduce staff compensation.
Thirty-one percent plan to reduce lawyer bonuses in 2008, and 22 percent plan to cut staff bonuses as well.
