Page 250 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (n)
P. 250
globally for the business of multinational companies. We struggle to see how they do not end up
claiming market share in the States and “arguably open the world to legal services providers.”11
The American Bar Association (“ABA”) has investigated this in the past, but even small
steps in this direction were halted. Given the pressures, however, and the enormous potential for
innovation and profit, incremental steps forward are anticipated by many. In the meantime, LMS
providers will play a big role in bridging this gap and allowing U.S. Biglaw to compete. We foresee
future partnerships between Biglaw and LMS providers to be a necessary interim step until our
laws are liberalized.
Legal Managed Services: Benefits for Law Firms
If LMS companies are eating into Biglaw’s market share, it would stand to reason that they
are natural-born competitors. After all, it was not long ago when outside counsel collected virtually
all fees related to representation — from legal research, to long-distance telephone calls, to
document review, to closing arguments at trial — as revenue to the law firm (even with some of
those costs as pass-through).
Today, with technology startups, and LMS companies on the scene, law firms are seeing
revenue from traditional legal support tasks departing coming off their books. And the Biglaw
firms are perceiving this “threat” from LMS providers: according to a recent survey, 68 percent of
respondents from large firms believe that non-law firm providers of legal services are either
presently taking their business or pose a threat to do so.12
We respectfully disagree. If leveraged correctly and incorporated as part of a larger
strategic approach, the deployment and integration with LMS companies can result in new
business lines, market advantages, and increased job satisfaction resulting from an increase of the
actual practice of law.
Project Management is Not What Lawyers Signed Up For
Today’s law firm attorneys are asked to do the impossible: handle increasing workloads
and increasing the quality of work, while somehow simultaneously lowering the total cost of
representation and improving overall profitability and margins. These tasks are not easily achieved
in any industry, but they are particularly difficult within the constraints of the traditional law firm
operating model. This model (the traditional pyramid) includes costly physical overhead and
personnel, a culture of following precedent, and a decentralized command structure.
Ultimately, legal managed services present two major advantages. First, managed services
can free up law firm associates to spend their time on the most complex, outcome-determinative
work, allowing them to achieve better results for their clients. Second, they allow firms to be agile
and create value within a new reality. As a result, firms can become more competitive, winning
new clients, and increasing profits on work with existing clients.
11 Laura Snyder Does the UK Know Something We Don’t About Alternative Business Structures?, ABA J. (Jan. 1, 2015, 5:51 AM) (“ABS
structures can arguably open the world to legal services providers”).
12 Altman Weil, 2015 Law Firms in Transition (2015), http://www.altmanweil.com/dir_docs/resource/1c789ef2-5cff-463a-863a-
2248d23882a7_document.pdf.
235
claiming market share in the States and “arguably open the world to legal services providers.”11
The American Bar Association (“ABA”) has investigated this in the past, but even small
steps in this direction were halted. Given the pressures, however, and the enormous potential for
innovation and profit, incremental steps forward are anticipated by many. In the meantime, LMS
providers will play a big role in bridging this gap and allowing U.S. Biglaw to compete. We foresee
future partnerships between Biglaw and LMS providers to be a necessary interim step until our
laws are liberalized.
Legal Managed Services: Benefits for Law Firms
If LMS companies are eating into Biglaw’s market share, it would stand to reason that they
are natural-born competitors. After all, it was not long ago when outside counsel collected virtually
all fees related to representation — from legal research, to long-distance telephone calls, to
document review, to closing arguments at trial — as revenue to the law firm (even with some of
those costs as pass-through).
Today, with technology startups, and LMS companies on the scene, law firms are seeing
revenue from traditional legal support tasks departing coming off their books. And the Biglaw
firms are perceiving this “threat” from LMS providers: according to a recent survey, 68 percent of
respondents from large firms believe that non-law firm providers of legal services are either
presently taking their business or pose a threat to do so.12
We respectfully disagree. If leveraged correctly and incorporated as part of a larger
strategic approach, the deployment and integration with LMS companies can result in new
business lines, market advantages, and increased job satisfaction resulting from an increase of the
actual practice of law.
Project Management is Not What Lawyers Signed Up For
Today’s law firm attorneys are asked to do the impossible: handle increasing workloads
and increasing the quality of work, while somehow simultaneously lowering the total cost of
representation and improving overall profitability and margins. These tasks are not easily achieved
in any industry, but they are particularly difficult within the constraints of the traditional law firm
operating model. This model (the traditional pyramid) includes costly physical overhead and
personnel, a culture of following precedent, and a decentralized command structure.
Ultimately, legal managed services present two major advantages. First, managed services
can free up law firm associates to spend their time on the most complex, outcome-determinative
work, allowing them to achieve better results for their clients. Second, they allow firms to be agile
and create value within a new reality. As a result, firms can become more competitive, winning
new clients, and increasing profits on work with existing clients.
11 Laura Snyder Does the UK Know Something We Don’t About Alternative Business Structures?, ABA J. (Jan. 1, 2015, 5:51 AM) (“ABS
structures can arguably open the world to legal services providers”).
12 Altman Weil, 2015 Law Firms in Transition (2015), http://www.altmanweil.com/dir_docs/resource/1c789ef2-5cff-463a-863a-
2248d23882a7_document.pdf.
235
