The relationship between corporate legal departments and their outside counsel has evolved significantly in recent years, driven by the growing need for cost savings, efficiency, and data-driven legal operations. In the latest episode of the Legal Leaders Exchange podcast, LegalCollaborator: The importance of early law firm engagement and competitive bidding, experts from Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions dive deep into this dynamic and discuss their newest innovation, LegalCollaborator, which is poised to transform how these key stakeholders engage and collaborate.
The following are a few of the key points covered in the discussion.
Fostering meaningful collaboration
Vince Venturella, Associate Director of Technology Product Management, emphasizes that the relationship between legal departments and law firms is more than just a vendor-client dynamic. He highlights the importance of mutual understanding, cultural fit, and open communication channels to foster meaningful collaboration.
Strong partnerships arise when law firms truly understand the business needs and priorities of their clients. Legal departments that foster such relationships see better alignment in objectives, more innovative solutions, and a more proactive approach from their outside counsel, leading to better long-term outcomes.
Collaboration begins with law firm selection and engagement
The podcast highlights the value of competitive bidding when selecting outside counsel. Instead of defaulting to a preferred law firm, opening the work to a structured bidding process allows legal departments to assess various firms' expertise, cost-effectiveness, and innovative approaches. Competitive bidding doesn’t just drive cost savings—it also promotes accountability and encourages firms to deliver the highest value possible. As emphasized by Jennifer McIver, Associate Director of Legal Operations and Industry Insights, the bidding process also gives law firms the opportunity to differentiate themselves and highlight their strengths to their clients.
Once a firm assignment is made, early engagement with law firms is key to successful outcomes. By involving outside counsel from the outset of a matter, legal departments can align their expectations and strategy with those of their chosen firm, leading to more effective collaboration. This approach increases predictability, minimizes miscommunications, and ensures in-house attorneys and outside counsel have the same expectations for the matter, ultimately saving time and cost.
Introducing LegalCollaborator
The group went on to introduce LegalCollaborator, a new early firm engagement and competitive bidding solution integrated into ELM Solutions’ matter and spend management platforms TyMetrix® 360° and Passport®. The solution streamlines the engagement process, connecting matter planning with pricing enforcement in one system. LegalCollaborator is a direct response to corporate legal departments who told us that they wanted better ways to collaborate with outside counsel. They needed a way to collect certain firm- and matter-related information right up front so that they could better align with the firms and work with them in a more predictable, transparent way.
Lisa Garcia, Associate Director of Customer Experience and User Experience, explains that ELM Solutions developed the solution based on extensive research and feedback from both clients and law firms, as well as industry experts. Lisa and her team provided a complete end-to-end picture of relevant processes and challenges from all interested parties. The development team then leveraged that knowledge to ensure that LegalCollaborator would successfully address the needs of all stakeholders.
The insights shared in this podcast episode underscore the evolving landscape of legal operations and the growing need for innovative solutions that can bridge the gap between corporate legal departments and their outside counsel. To explore the rest of the conversation, listen to the full episode.
