Articles

The “Great Resignation” and Its Impact on the Legal Industry

Whether the “Great Resignation” will impact the legal industry ultimately may have to do with the alignment of what employees and employers separately want.

What Executives want to Know about RFPs

What Executives Want to Know about RFPs

The webinar is about recognizing that client presentations are all about the client and not the presenter or law firm. Techniques are shared on how to make presentations client-centric.

How to Prepare an RFP for Legal Services in Canada

How to Prepare an RFP for Legal Services in Canada

Issuing a request for proposal for external legal services is a useful way to consolidate and create panels of law firms, or simply to find the best external counsel partner to assist with a particular matter in a cost-effective way.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Future of Legal Services Delivery

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Future of Legal Services Delivery

My 360° perspective on the delivery of legal services and the impact of COVID now and in the future from in-house counsel, legal operations and law firms.

The Changing Role of In-House Legal Operations and Procurement Professionals

As today’s digitized and remote-enabled legal marketplace evolves, legal service delivery and the roles supporting in-house and outside legal teams have assumed greater importance in meeting the challenges and opportunities of this new reality.

Webcast Series: The Future of Legal Service Delivery

Webcast Series: The Future of Legal Service Delivery and the COVID 19 Impact

You are invited to a webcast and discussion for law firms, presented by the CIBC and featuring Nancey Watson as a guest speaker. Trends Shaping the Delivery of Legal Services and the COVID 19 Impact COVID has not only changed the way lawyers work but…

Understanding how the client’s business makes money: A critical step for all lawyers

Amid the current pandemic crisis, the impact felt by law firms and their clients has been great; and this pressure has ratcheted up the necessity for law firms to better address their corporate clients growing needs during this time. Indeed, one area of need is…

The Top 5 things Law Firms Hate About RFPs

The Top 5 things Law Firms Hate About RFPs

Request for Proposals (RFPs) are necessary in the legal industry to help corporate clients decide which law firms to select for a panel or for certain matters. The current COVID-19 pandemic crisis has only made this reality more crucial.

Strategic Sourcing Technology for Legal Service Procurement

By Beau Wysong — By using RFPs, companies can engage with law firms outside of their existing network to find the best possible combination of experience, services and pricing.

What’s happening to RFPs during the pandemic?

There has been a recent market uptake in the utilization of Request for Proposals (RFPs) and bids during the pandemic, and I wanted to find out if this is a global phenomenon or if I could determine what to expect post-pandemic. Because I consult with…

Pricing & Procurement: What I Learned About RFP Software

Pricing & Procurement: What I Learned About RFP Software

As a proposal consultant I must admit that I don’t always love using Request for Proposal (RFP) software when responding to a bid. I have found in the past that the software often had glitches and was not at all user-friendly. However, at the outset…

Legal RFPs

When it comes to the legal RFP process, Nancey Watson does it all. She partners with both legal and corporate legal clients and is an expert at getting results. As a veteran consultant for buyers and sellers in the legal industry, she has helped develop corporate legal…

Beyond the RFPs and AFAs

Law firms are responding to more RFPs and requests for alternative or appropriate fee arrangements than ever before, but are legal departments getting what they need from these approaches? Going through a request for proposal or law firm panel review can involve a lot of…

Requests for proposals

The RFP process has become more sophisticated and complex, but law firms still have to play ball to get on the preferred panel list. Law firms are seeing companies take an increasingly sophisticated approach in the way they procure and engage legal services. And many…

Two Practices That Will Drastically Improve Your In-house RFP Results

Defining goals and maintaining clear communications about needs and wants is key. Nancey Watson works with law firms on proposal strategy and in-house legal counsel to produce the best request for proposals (RFPs) possible. According to Watson, for in-house lawyers to find legal services providers…

Understanding the Buyer’s Role in Legal Procurement

Over the past several years there has been a significant change in the kind of Request for Proposals (RFPs) that law firms are receiving for legal services, not just in terms of volume and complexity, but in that the issuer is from legal procurement or legal sourcing (as some professionals are called) rather than from the corporate legal department or the office of the general counsel directly.

What Does Legal Procurement Think About Midsize Law Firms?

Because the term midsize law firms means different things to different people, I thought I’d give you my definition before I talk about what legal procurement professionals think about them.

Here’s How Sales Teams Add Value—If They Have Access

While utilization of sales and business development teams has become common at law firms, the level of involvement such teams have in client relationships varies from firm to firm. And how integral they are to the process of retaining and maintaining work is all over the map.

By Patrick Smith, Journalist, American Lawyer

Legal Operations: How to Develop a Win/Win Relationship Between In-house Counsel and Law Firms

Originally published by Thomson Reuters One of the most significant developments going on today in the legal industry is how the rise of legal operations has pushed in-house law departments to work more closely with the legal ops professionals at law firms to get better…

Lessons Learned from Proposal Debriefs — Why Proposals Lose

You may be wondering why I am not writing about how to win RFP proposals and instead, I am writing about why proposals lose. Well, I’ve written a lot about winning so I thought I’d write about losing — as I’ve discovered when I’m conducting proposal…

The evolving role of legal pricing professionals

Pricing is a key lever influencing and driving financial performance as well as a pressure point for law firms as their clients demand more for less and a better balance between pricing and value. Toronto-based consultant Nancey Watson sat down recently with Stuart Dodds, director of Global…

RFPs and Procurement: Trends & Reverse Auctions

A recent article in Canadian Lawyer on request for proposals (RFPs) it discussed the role of companies and their RFP process. As the number of companies sending out RFPs for their panel law firms increases it is critical for law firms to win RFPs now or be…

Requests for Proposals – The RFP process has become more sophisticated and complex…

Download a PDF copy of Marg. Bruineman’s latest article–discussing RFP trends, as identified by Nancey Watson. Download PDF

Billing Transparency: What Legal Procurement Really Wants From its Law Firms, Part 2

I recently required the services of an attorney. I must admit that when I received the bill I was shocked — it was double what I expected. The attorney attached all the documentation to my invoice; included time spent on voicemails, emails, etc.; and provided…

Billing Transparency: What Legal Procurement Really Wants from its Law Firms, Part 1

Recently, when I told a legal procurement professional that my next blog was going to be on Billing Transparency he said: “Whoa! You really don’t hold anything back do you?” I don’t mean to go for the jugular, but I find that in my consulting business…

‘Procurement is Not the Enemy’, But Understanding the Process is Crucial for Law Firms

By Gregg Wirth As today’s legal marketplace becomes more competitive and clients themselves become more savvy and demanding, no issue is more at the pinch-point of the lawyer/client relationship than procurement. While procurement is simply the client’s selection process for which firm will be put…

Facing Law Firms’ Performance Reviews: How to Prepare & Avoid Unpleasant Surprises

Although no one feels comfortable conducting performance reviews of their outside legal counsel — that is why legal procurement professionals often handle the review — law firms must know what they are being reviewed on to ensure the likelihood of consistent, high-quality performance scores. As…

Performance Measuring: Three Buckets of Important KPIs

As I’ve written here before, companies are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to measuring their outside legal counsel’s performance, yet law firms do not always ask their clients to detail the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) their clients are using to measure their performance. These…

Performance Measurement – What to Expect from Legal Procurement Professionals

Companies are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to measuring their outside legal counsel’s performance. It always amazes me that law firms do not ask their clients for their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They spend a lot of time coming up with their Client Satisfaction…

Billing & Procurement: What Should Law Firms Be Doing in Pricing?

You can write the best pitch proposal with all the strategy and bells and whistles you want, but if you don’t have the right pricing methods you won’t win. This is the message that was clearly acknowledged at our recent seminar, entitled “How Procurement Impacts Law…

HOW TO GET BETTER RESPONSES TO RFPS FROM LAW FIRMS

Law firms want to provide their qualifications in the best possible light in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP). In order for them to do this, procurement professionals need to provide clear and concise information. Lawyers need to understand your needs. But your view…