In the legal department.

• Position: Closer collaboration between financial executives and their companies' lawyers

At an informal survey at a recent FEI conference, Financial Executive discovered some financial executives are spending more time consulting with their legal counsel, and they don't expect that trend to go away soon (see chart). Seventy-two percent of the 53 respondents are satisfied with their current time commitment to legal matters. Twenty percent say they're spending more time than necessary, while 8 percent say they're spending less.

When asked how much time they spend working with external counsel, 21 of the 53 executives answered 5 percent. Another six executives report spending 10 percent of their time with external counsel.

Nine respondents estimate they spend 10 percent of their time working with internal legal counsel, and seven place that time commitment at 5 percent. However, 15 of the executives surveyed don't spend any time working with internal legal counsel.

Fifty percent of the respondents say their companies retain two or three firms; only 10 percent report using more than six firms. These firms advise companies on a variety of areas, especially corporate governance, employee benefits, financing, labor relations, mergers and acquisitions and corporate reporting.

On the dollars side, 20 percent of the respondents say their companies spend up to $100,000 per year on legal fees. Forty-one percent are in the $100,000 to $500,000 range, while 39 percent of the companies spend more than...