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ONBOARDING IN THE LEGAL CATEGORY MADE EASY!


SUCCESS IN THE LEGAL CATEGORY FOR YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION

Legal Procurement is often referred to as “the last frontier” for procurement as legal services used to be excused from in-depth cost analyses and professional management exercised in all other parts of the organization.  Today, legal is no longer exempt. Best practices for buying legal services are applied.

In organizations with very large legal spend procurement now works with in-house counsel and legal operations and supports them in the areas of strategic sourcing and supplier management. 

Given the complexity of the category and the relative newness of the topic, even seasoned procurement professionals need the right tools and information to get up to speed and quickly become successful and productive in the legal category.

In organizations where overall legal spend is not large enough to necessitate bringing legal procurement specialists, in-house counsel and legal operations professionals are advised to use procurement best practices for buying legal services. 

START THE RIGHT WAY

How you handle the first 100+ days in the legal category will be crucial for your success as it sets the tone for building the necessary trust with your colleagues as well as the providers of legal services.

The Buying Legal® Council will be your most critical companion and help you get started, build better relationships and learn how to earn your colleagues' trust, ensure that you become indispensable, are able to drive change and impact, get more value and better service from the law firms and legal services providers etc.

You are also in the right place if you need to learn how to best work with legal procurement and be a useful resource for your clients. Understand what procurement values, what their challenges are, and what keeps them up at night. You will be a better provider and are more likely to become a valued partner.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BUYING LEGAL SERVICES

Legal services used to be outside the sphere of activity of procurement in many organizations, but it is a category in which procurement professionals can add tremendous value and competitive advantage for their employers. 

Legal procurement’s corporate mandate is to better manage legal spend and support the legal department in data-driven decision-making. The QUICK GUIDE provides important benchmarks, in addition to information about the legal system, the legal market, law firms, and other legal services providers. It was composed and is based on research by the Buying Legal® Council, the only dedicated source of education and research for professionals tasked with sourcing legal services and managing supplier relationships.

The QUICK GUIDE is aimed at procurement professionals who are engaged in, or seeking to be engaged in, buying legal services.

Any organization with significant external legal spend that does not involve procurement today is not practicing best practice.


Members and Friends download the QUICK GUIDE here.

Not (yet) a Member or Friend? Download the PREVIEW here.

INTERESTED?

Follow our next steps to a successful start in and with legal procurement:


Watch the "Getting Started" videos  (after you log in)

Download our Legal Spend Management Primer. Benchmark yourself against the different levels of spend under management and explore different legal spend management initiatives.


Learn about the differences and similarities between legal procurement and legal operations and how the two can work together.

Download our Templates. Why reinvent the wheel?

Learn about legal concepts in our "MINI LAW SCHOOL": Watch our Legal Lessons and read our "Getting Started" Cheat Sheets.


    Read the Harvard Business School case study on GlaxoSmithKline's approach to buying legal services. The pharma company is considered a pioneer in legal procurement.


    Get your Certificate in Legal Procurement Fundamentals. Once you have done this, you can be confident that you'll be a sophisticated buyer of legal services!




        Log in to read more.


        Buying Legal Council podcast with CIPS (The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) on buying legal services

        • Starting out in the legal category
        • Wanting to enhance the value delivered in the category
        • Wanting to better align with their legal team's objectives and bring them on the journey