The economic crisis of the past two years has accelerated a legal industry paradigm shift as budget-conscious corporate counsel seek efficiency and cost reduction from traditional legal service providers.  The traditional leverage-based, billable hour law firm model is perceived by many corporate counsel as inefficient and costly.  New SaaS-based software management tools enable corporate counsel to collaborate more closely with legal service providers to source, engage, measure and enforce value-based project pricing.  Law firms will have to adjust to meet the changing demands of more results-oriented corporate counsel.

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Serengeti Law recently released a 2009 survey of corporate counsel that concluded “controlling outside spend was their top priority.”It stated that Corporate Counsel are looking for innovative, value driven solutions to reduce overall legal spend.. “Use of alternative fee structures rose 61%, fixed fees rose 38%, project retainers rose 15%.” The survey went on to say that more than 51% of corporate counsel  are planning to adopt internet based systems this year to manage work with outside counsel.

The Tilson Group

Martin Tilson is managing partner of The Tilson Group, which consults with global software companies, corporate counsel, and law firms on the convergence of legal services, analysis of software solutions for matter and spend management, efficient alignment of team and responsibilities, analysis of internal measures, and methods for achieving maximum ROI on legal department budget. Read more…

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