PRIMERS

NEW - Litigation Finance:  Litigation financing is a relatively new financial approach to de-risking litigation exposures for entities of every size and market presence. When weighing the potential benefits of taking financing to remove risk, and reduce the opportunity cost of self-funding litigation, it makes sense to use a third-party funder that puts its capital at risk in exchange for a minority share of potential recoveries. Click here to download this Primer.

Guide to AFAs: There are many misconceptions about alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). Chief among them is the notion that if the matter is likely to change or if the scope is ambiguous, then you must stick to the billable hour. As you will see in this Guide, there are many AFA approaches designed to tackle the ambiguity that is inherent in legal services, and which can account for potential changes in scope with simple, pre-agreed adjustments. Click here to download the guide.

Legal Spend Management: Which Legal Spend Management initiatives will bring the fastest results, best outcomes, and cause the least disruption (and take less convincing of stakeholders)? This Primer introduces the LEGAL PROCUREMENT MATRIX which details the pros and cons of different cost-savings initiatives. Benchmark yourself on the SPEND UNDER MANAGEMENT MATURITY PROGRESSION. Learn how to prioritize and strategically approach legal spend management. Click here to download this Primer.

Social Impact & Sustainability: Organizations’ choices and behavior have significant influence on their providers. Law Departments are no different. They are increasingly expected that their suppliers - law firms and other providers - are aligned with their own organization’s Environmental, Social and Governance practices. In this primer, the members of the Buying Legal® Council Working Group for Social Impact and Sustainability offer their insights on common standards and frameworks for social impact and sustainability, ratings and assessments, as well as sample questions for RFPs. Click here to download this Primer.

Legal Vendor Cyber Risk Management: Cyber threats and security breaches have become an almost daily occurrence. As an organization’s reputation and data are at increasing risk of being compromised, it is critical to adopt a comprehensive and robust approach to vendor cyber risk management for legal services. It helps both the organization and its vendors to decrease security control gaps and minimize overall risk. This Primer shows you the necessary steps when building a robust Legal Vendor Cyber Risk Management program. Click here to download this Primer.

Fee Arrangements Primer: Discounts? Flat fees? Fixed fees? Contingency fees? When is which fee arrangement the right choice? If you need to make sense of fee arrangements, download our quick reference Fee Arrangement (AFA) Primer here. 

Benchmarking Primer: Benchmarking can be a powerful tool to improve the sourcing of legal services. It goes much further than comparing rates and improves performance by evaluating your own approach to the management of sourcing and legal activities with the industry standard and best practices. This primers offers a practical, effective approach to help you navigate the challenges of benchmarking. Click here to download the Benchmarking Primer.

Rate Negotiations Primer: For many of us, the fourth quarter is rate negotiation time. Law firms typically send their annual rate increase letters in November, informing clients “as of [DATE], hourly rates will go up by [amount or percentage].” More and more clients, however, object to such automatic rate increases unless there is justification. So, what is the best way to prepare for negotiating with your firms? Click here to download the Rate Negotiation Primer.

Litigation Scoping Primer: Litigation is inherently unpredictable. “Surprises” such as a judge making an adverse ruling; opposing counsel acting irrationally; bad facts coming to light etc. can cause scope changes. If the anticipated scope of the matter was not clear at the beginning, bills can quickly spiral out of control. Having a well-scoped budget solves these problems. Learn how to carefully scope matters to obtain realistic litigation budgets. Click here to download the Litigation Scoping Primer.

Service Delivery Primer: Most of us do not pay sufficient attention to how legal work gets done. You are rightly concerned with who is doing the work and what you pay for it. With people and price in place, it is process that offers the most levers to drive continuous improvement, especially in the context of long-term supplier relationships. Do not just focus on discounts and write-downs, but address process with your primary providers. Learn how to go about it. Download the Service Delivery Primer here.

IP Costs Management Primer: Managing and maintaining intellectual property (IP) assets is expensive, resource-intensive, and risky. A single trademark may attract renewal fees around the world costing thousands of dollars, while the implications of failure in the process could be critical for a business. Add the costs of employing and managing local agents, managing assignments and other recordals, let alone developing new brands and the IP assets that go with them – and it is easy to see how the process can become expensive and unwieldy. Learn what you can do to rationalize the costs involved in managing IP without imperiling your overall portfolio. Click here to download the Primer.

eAuctions Primer:  More and more companies use reverse electronic auctions for legal services. If you are considering eAuctions, would like additional information about their benefits and how to best use them, click here to download our eAuction Primer.

Did you find what you were looking for? Please email Doria your ideas and suggestions for future Primer topics. (Also let us know if you would like to author a Primer!)