In-house lawyers' spend on private practice soars

In-house counsel are spending more than ever before on instructing outsidelaw firms,

with one-quarter spending u1m or more on legal advice, accordingto a new survey.Managing

partner at Taylor Root legal recruitment Nick Root says: "Theview with companies is that

they are spending more on outsourcing legalwork than ever before."The in-house report,

based on FTSE 100 companies, shows that the 24 percent of companies that responded to

researchers spent in excess of u1m onoutsourcing in the last financial year.Graeme

Proudfoot, general counsel at Invesco Global, says: "We are notspending more this year

than in 1998 because last year we pushed through ahuge deal, but I can see why the

amount companies have spent on outsourcinghas increased."There is a growing range of

technical issues that in-house teams needadvice on. New legislation is tending to be

increasingly sophisticated andcomplex, and we are having to deal with that."Ten years

ago companies did not have to worry about nearly as manyregulatory issues."Communication

and transport developments have progressed at breakneckspeed, and legislation is having

to keep up with them."That is why a lot of companies are spending so much on outsourcing

for advice."Two areas that spring to mind are issues surrounding the FinancialServices

Authority and the soon to be introduced Data Protection Bill."