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Leaders in Legal Business
contracts; it then groups like contracts together and prioritizes the most critical contracts for review. The software
can then automatically extract metadata. However, it is the combination of legally trained resources and
technology that provides the most effective end-to-end solution. The software in and of itself cannot extract every
single piece of data that is important to the business, and, for the data that it does extract, a manual quality control
process ensures that the work product is of the highest quality.
Legal Spend Analytics
The area of legal spend analytics is another example where technology can be utilized to support a more
cost-effective and reengineered delivery of legal services. By leveraging best-in-class data analytics technology
and specialized visual techniques, one can analyze and then present historical e-billing data to help a corporate
legal department achieve overall legal spend reduction. By digesting, analyzing, and then presenting in dashboard
format the intelligence gleaned from legal invoices, it is possible to benchmark outside counsel and vendor
performance. With access to the right data, one can create online dashboards and business intelligence reporting
that provides in-house legal and finance teams with updates on outside counsel spend, breakdowns of matters by
firm/practice area/timekeeper, savings opportunities, performance against budgets, benchmarking, and many other
key metrics.
Knowledge, as they say, is power, and by utilizing software-enabled data analytics and dashboard
reporting, corporate legal departments are empowered to revisit the entire gamut – the identification, selection,
retention, management, cost, and evaluation – of their relationship with outside counsel and other legal services
providers. The end game is one where resource allocation planning is optimized, ensuring that the right
technologies and the right legal professionals, based on a combination of expertise, cost, and availability, are
assigned to the delivery of the requested legal services, given the type and complexity of the matters at hand.
Redefining the Law Firm Delivery Model: A Journey of LPO Acceptance
In order to survive in today’s economy and to thrive in the future, many law firms are actively rethinking
their business models. This rethink frequently includes an embrace of LPO and a reexamination of the traditional
pyramid structure as the usual modus operandi for legal services delivery. Although some believe LPO providers
will increasingly contract directly with corporate clients, it is important to consider that LPOs do not practice law
and therefore cannot replace law firms entirely. A more natural fit for LPO is to supplant the base of the law firm
pyramid. This is not to suggest the only benefit of LPO is labor arbitrage, in which expensive junior associates
are simply substituted on a like-for-like basis by less expensive offshore lawyers in India, South Africa, and the
Philippines. As discussed above, LPOs are leading the way in the incorporation of technology into legal services
delivery. Law firms are likewise evolving toward greater acceptance of LPO.
Figure 1: Law Firm Adoption Timeline for LPO
133
contracts; it then groups like contracts together and prioritizes the most critical contracts for review. The software
can then automatically extract metadata. However, it is the combination of legally trained resources and
technology that provides the most effective end-to-end solution. The software in and of itself cannot extract every
single piece of data that is important to the business, and, for the data that it does extract, a manual quality control
process ensures that the work product is of the highest quality.
Legal Spend Analytics
The area of legal spend analytics is another example where technology can be utilized to support a more
cost-effective and reengineered delivery of legal services. By leveraging best-in-class data analytics technology
and specialized visual techniques, one can analyze and then present historical e-billing data to help a corporate
legal department achieve overall legal spend reduction. By digesting, analyzing, and then presenting in dashboard
format the intelligence gleaned from legal invoices, it is possible to benchmark outside counsel and vendor
performance. With access to the right data, one can create online dashboards and business intelligence reporting
that provides in-house legal and finance teams with updates on outside counsel spend, breakdowns of matters by
firm/practice area/timekeeper, savings opportunities, performance against budgets, benchmarking, and many other
key metrics.
Knowledge, as they say, is power, and by utilizing software-enabled data analytics and dashboard
reporting, corporate legal departments are empowered to revisit the entire gamut – the identification, selection,
retention, management, cost, and evaluation – of their relationship with outside counsel and other legal services
providers. The end game is one where resource allocation planning is optimized, ensuring that the right
technologies and the right legal professionals, based on a combination of expertise, cost, and availability, are
assigned to the delivery of the requested legal services, given the type and complexity of the matters at hand.
Redefining the Law Firm Delivery Model: A Journey of LPO Acceptance
In order to survive in today’s economy and to thrive in the future, many law firms are actively rethinking
their business models. This rethink frequently includes an embrace of LPO and a reexamination of the traditional
pyramid structure as the usual modus operandi for legal services delivery. Although some believe LPO providers
will increasingly contract directly with corporate clients, it is important to consider that LPOs do not practice law
and therefore cannot replace law firms entirely. A more natural fit for LPO is to supplant the base of the law firm
pyramid. This is not to suggest the only benefit of LPO is labor arbitrage, in which expensive junior associates
are simply substituted on a like-for-like basis by less expensive offshore lawyers in India, South Africa, and the
Philippines. As discussed above, LPOs are leading the way in the incorporation of technology into legal services
delivery. Law firms are likewise evolving toward greater acceptance of LPO.
Figure 1: Law Firm Adoption Timeline for LPO
133
