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Fixed Fees: the Bees’ Knees?

Managing outside counsel is complicated. And, so are their bills. With complex itemizations and unclear formats, the bills trigger misunderstandings and lead to frustration. For many reasons, forecasting your annual budget is a challenge. You often wonder what you can do to help simplify the bills and drive predictability in your budget. Many in-house teams […]

Four Watch-Outs for Proposal Prep

Law firms often ask us what clients look for in RFP responses. Beyond competitive pricing and sound expertise and service, the specifics vary significantly from client-to-client. After pouring through proposal after proposal, it has come clear to us that there are some potholes to avoid. Here are four key watch-outs for law firms when preparing […]

Building Bridges: 3 Tips for a Smooth Legal RFP

Do you remember what it was like to be in private practice and on the receiving end of an RFP? Did it trigger feelings of hope or dread? Maybe you couldn’t wait to submit, or maybe you got a pit in your stomach and were thankful that the marketing team would handle the majority of […]

A Better Rate Card RFP

A lot of our clients run what is commonly referred to as a Rate Card RFP. The principle is simple: ask the law firms to list staff members and the hourly rates they will charge for work they may be asked to perform. You are not asking them to build a budget for a specific […]

Law Firms: Three Steps to a Better Proposal

Recently a national law firm asked us to visit with them to discuss how they could improve their RFP responses submitted through our platform. They wanted to discuss the finer points of proposal writing – i.e. beyond the obvious point of offering compelling pricing. We were happy to oblige. While much of what we shared was specific […]

Law Firm Blended Rates – How to Avoid Getting Taken For A Ride

I recently tripped across a well-written article that addressed some of the tensions associated with blended rates ( http://adverselling.typepad.com/how_law_firms_sell/2013/04/are-blended-rates-alternative-fee-arrangements.html) .  Ultimately the author spent significant time dissecting whether they represent an alternative fee arrangement or an hourly rate.  He noted that distinction matters when measuring how much work law firms may claim to do under AFAs.  […]

Fixed Fees for Legal Engagements: The Basics

There has been a trend in the use of fixed fees for legal engagements.  Let’s take a moment to review the benefits and potential pitfalls of this fee methodology and when it is most commonly utilized. Cost Certainty:  Obviously fixed fees provide certainty of cost for an engagement and cap legal fees.  And this certainty […]

Get the Right People on the Bus and Save: Notes on Selecting a Law Firm

Jim Collins’ notion of getting the right people “on the bus” is a fitting way to start this post. Whether your “bus” is a litigation or a transaction or a regulatory matter, having the right people on the right parts of your matter will set you up for success.  When it comes to selecting a […]

A Short History of Legal Fees

From the billable hour to fixed fee engagements, the history of legal billing in the United States shows there’s nothing new under the sun.  It is a tour de force of the fee methods deployed by law firms to this very day, displaying the one constant from which no fee method conversation can escape – […]

We put a multi-year engagement out for bid to several firms and realized more than a 25% savings off historical rates. And, unlike our prior arrangement, significant portions of the work are now subject to fee caps.

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