Corporate Travel Management for Law Firms

Litigation calendars belong to judges, opposing counsel and witnesses. A deposition noticed for Tuesday in Houston can slip a week with a day’s warning, and a trial estimated at eight days can run fifteen. Travel for a firm has to absorb that churn without wasting tickets or attorney hours.

The other differences are money and discretion. Most firm travel is billed back to clients, so every charge needs a client and matter number and has to fit the client’s outside counsel guidelines. And the simple fact that a partner is flying to a particular city to meet a particular company can be sensitive in itself.

Buy flexibility on purpose rather than by accident. For litigation travel the cheapest fare is often the most expensive outcome: a ticket that can’t be changed, on a schedule that moves twice, turns one purchase into three.

Capture the client and matter number when the trip is requested, not at month-end. When it sits on the booking record, the itinerary and the invoice, accounting can bill disbursements without chasing attorneys for receipts.

Many corporate clients and insurers publish outside counsel guidelines that cap reimbursable travel: coach airfare on domestic flights, a nightly hotel ceiling, no alcohol on the bill. A travel manager with those guidelines on file books to them, flags when a partner’s preference won’t be reimbursable, and lets the firm decide whether to absorb the difference before the trip rather than after a billing dispute.

Treat itineraries as client information. Limit who receives them, keep client names out of calendar invites and booking remarks, and remind travelers not to post locations on social media during a deal, investigation or trial.

Cross-border trips add a device question. US Customs and Border Protection has authority to search electronic devices at the border, with specific procedures when privilege is asserted, and many firms issue clean loaner laptops and phones for international travel. That policy belongs to your general counsel and IT team; the travel side is making sure each traveler knows it before departure.

A trial is a small, intense offsite. The team often arrives a week or more ahead, needs rooms near the courthouse plus a suite that works as a war room, and ships exhibits in advance. Book the hotel as soon as the trial date looks firm, on a block you can shrink or release if the case settles.

With one advisor who learns your attorneys’ preferences, keeps the matter number on every booking and books with continuances in mind from the start. Empyrean has provided travel management since 1984 and is based in Los Angeles; help on the road comes through the Virtuoso/Andavo support network.

If you’re comparing options, our guide to choosing a travel management company lists the questions worth asking any provider, including us.