Our infographic, Despite high legal spend, financial companies have tight cost control, highlights some of the key findings from our LegalVIEW Insights vol. 5, financial edition report, released late last year. For those working in the legal function, particularly legal operations, at companies in the finance industry, both are valuable resources that provide practical context for the decisions legal professionals in this industry make every day in managing their outside counsel relationships.
Some of the information outlined in the infographic includes:
- When looking across all companies, we see that only 50% spend more than 0.4% of their revenue on outside counsel costs. However, in the financial industry, 71% of companies spend at least that percentage.
- However, financial companies were far less likely to see their outside counsel costs increase over the study period. In fact, taken as a whole, all companies saw a 21% rise, while outside counsel spend at financial companies was virtually flat.
- One reason for this flat spend was the ability of financial companies to rein in timekeeper rate increases. While hourly rates increased on 2.8% for finance companies, most industries saw larger rate hikes. For example, timekeeper rates went up 10.8% at industrial companies.
- This tighter control has been achieved by financial companies even though their outside counsel mix is similar to that of all companies. When breaking down the spend within each Am Law tier, the percentage of financial company spend is very close to that of all companies across every tier, with the largest variation at only 4%.
For all the detailed data on these insights, refer to our infographic Despite high legal spend, financial companies have tight cost control.
