To help you obtain comparable benchmark data, Rees Morrison will:

1. Provide a benchmark survey template and revise it to meet your needs.
2. Draft the invitation message that tells invitees your company's name, the names of the companies invited to take part, and that participants will receive a report.
3. Email departments comparable to your law department. You will need to provide the invitees' names, email addresses, and telephone numbers.
4. Follow-up with the invitees once by telephone about a week after the email goes out and at least twice again by phone and email thereafter.
5. Review the data submitted by participants for completeness and reasonableness. We will confirm with law department that unusual data is correct and urge them to provide missing data.
6. Create graphics in PowerPoint for the benchmark results, such as lawyers per billion dollars of revenue, sorted from high to low and with a confidential code letter for each company. We will also summarize the metrics.
7. Prepare a report for you and the participating companies and discuss it with you by telephone.

The fixed fee will be from $11,000 to $21,000 and there will be no disbursement charges. The fee depends on the number of companies you invite to participate. The fixed fee is set as follows:

For an additional $4,000 plus reasonable travel expenses, Rees Morrison will come to your offices and present the results, answer questions, and make suggestions for improvements in a meeting or meetings with you or your staff over the course of one day.

One-third of the fee is due at the start of the project; one-third after one month; and one-third upon submission of the final report. If after two months fewer than five companies provide data, you can end the project and RMA keeps the initial payment.

Experience of Rees Morrison with Law Department Benchmarking:

During his consulting career, Rees Morrison has conducted benchmarking projects for such companies as Alcoa, Baxter, Black & Veatch, Blue Cross, Colgate-Palmolive, Diageo, Northwestern Mutual, Pharmacia-Upjohn, and Princeton University. Morrison has also conducted three benchmark surveys jointly with Laurence Simons.

Morrison has published a book on law department benchmarks: Law Department Benchmarks: Myths, Metrics and Management (Glasser LegalWorks, 2nd ed. 2001). He also has written more than 225 posts about benchmarks on his blog, LawDepartmentManagementBlog.com along with several articles, such as "Three Key Benchmarks," Legal Times, Nov. 19, 2007; and "Missing and Elusive Benchmarks," Legal Times, June 19, 2008. Both articles are available on this website under "Books and Writings." He has spoken to more than two dozen groups of in-house lawyers about benchmarks.