There are some things in life that, taken together, don`t seem quite right: Take Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch, all about Donald Trump and the presidential race, kids and matches, high heels and a nice polished stocking. Another unpleasant anomaly is that the purchasing department takes the side of the internal legal department and tries to be nice. At worst, procurement has been such an unwelcome addition to the mix that legal departments have steadfastly refused to give them the right access to do the job in a meaningful way, or simply kicked them out of meetings, according to Silvia Hodges Silverstein, executive director of the Buying Legal Council, a business organization for those tasked with obtaining legal services. But she says things are much better. “Once internal consultants see that working with procurement can be very beneficial for them, things change. When the CFO comes in and says, “Surprise, we need to cut legal expenses by another 10%,” it`s an awkward conversation. It is very important that the legal department knows what needs to be done and how purchases can help. Ton van den Bosch leads the legal team at ICTSI, which owns a cargo container terminal based in Manila. He shares with GC his thoughts on successfully managing a global team in often volatile frontier markets. Aaron Katzel, head of the legal operations center at AIG, explains that the starting point is to get support from senior management from the start. “Find someone who is committed to the work, someone who supports the implementation of change in areas that are not used to change. Katzel credits Tom Russo, executive vice president and general manager, with driving AIG`s push for procurement and the legal revolution.
“Tom has given us a fresh perspective on how we manage the consumption of legal services, and we have developed a new framework – data-driven; act as a corporation; leverage market dynamics to improve performance and value; and our different areas of expertise. Katzel explains that this top-down challenge has led the legal department to work with procurement to find ways to obtain the most advanced and technology-driven procurement techniques for AIG`s legal counsel, and “the dynamism and support of management has comforted the internal team and given credibility to the procurement and data-driven approach.” The inaugural Enterprise GC event brought together some of the UK`s brightest in-house legal minds in Syon Park for two days of discussions, speeches and shared ideas to meet the changing needs of General Counsel in the modern business and legal environment. Participating agencies can also directly access AGS legal services and do not have to use the panel`s flexibility framework or request an exemption from the use of the panel. Linked works cannot be purchased via the portal, please contact AGS or the corresponding linked supplier directly. It is no longer a question of pimping the legal situation, all flamboyant weapons and demanding the cheapest legal services without really understanding what “value” means. Steph Hogg, a former legal procurement specialist who works on Aviva`s GC team, says: “There is a misperception that procurement is only there to drive down the price, which is supported by people whose only experience in procurement is goods; often using tools such as electronic auctions and electronic tenders. But demanding sourcing isn`t just about price, it`s also about careful selection and value for money. The relationship between domestic law and procurement has too often been anything but productive. GC is discovering how putting everyone on the same page can lead to new efficiencies and a more effective way of procuring legal services. This committee provides high quality and cost-effective legal services. GC sits down with Xerox to discuss its growing regulatory mandate and innovative approach to document solutions. The Expert Group was established as a coordinated procurement in the context of competitive value for money based on an open market approach.
The panel is managed by AGD and was created on August 15, 2019. The panel aims to make better use of the Commonwealth`s purchasing power and improve the effectiveness of the Commonwealth`s cooperation with external legal service providers. Email: legalpaneladministration@justice.vic.gov.au information on accessing Legal Services Panel contractual agreements. “The legal department is simply too late for the contracting party and it seems that they prefer not to participate at all.” Justin Ergler, director of intelligence and alternative fee analysis at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), says procurement should be wary of taking an over-approach, as it wouldn`t disrupt the function of the legal department. “Procurement is there to listen and help; There are two very different approaches that procurement can take, and that becomes the difference between the function that succeeds or fails. The portal was created by the Department of the Attorney General (AGD) to provide Commonwealth authorities with access to the legal services of the entire Australian Government Legal Services Unit (the Unit) or the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS). The law firms that make up the legal panel must comply with the following: Hogg points out that the outcome of the legal work depends on the GC; It is her neck that is at stake, and that is why she says it is imperative that the legal department has the final say. “Contracting is there to ensure value for money, but you don`t have to determine where that money is being spent.” She says the lawyer does it better because at the end of the day, he knows what he wants and he knows the market. Ergler agrees: “An important aspect is that final purchasing decisions are not a matter of procurement, because procurement is not subject to subjective judgment. This final decision rests with the Legal Service. Hogg is convinced on this point: “If you find people who are more willing to drive something together, then it`s likely to start with a small area. This is an opportunity for purchases to show that they are listening, learning and understanding concerns.
She suggests starting with complementary legal services like medical records or court reports: “something lawyers think is not at the heart of their nature,” and from there, procurement can begin to build a relationship and gain trust. The legal profession is nuanced, highly specialized and based on relationships of trust built over time. While the rest of the business was tied to budgets and scrutiny of governance, the legal department was long trusted to purchase external services at its discretion. But things are changing; The landscape has changed since the global financial crisis, with all eyes on getting maximum value for minimum spend across all departments, and there has been pressure for the legal department to do things differently, for less. Richard Burcher, managing director of Validatum, a legal services consultancy, says this new world of procurement and law is a threesome, and threesomes often work better in your mind than in practice. “What`s strange about this mix is procurement, which has traditionally been heavily criticized by internal and external law firms, who view procurement as an intrusion into existing relationships. Contracting has been characterized by its inability to differentiate between purchasing legal services and knowing how to purchase a pallet of copy paper. There`s a lot of bad blood going on right now, but that`s changing with the increasing professionalization of procurement and the realization that it`s not going away, meaning a collaborative approach should produce better results than a combative approach. Consider the likely legal cost of the service required. Buyers should strive to always get value for their money and encourage competition within the panel. Buyers should also consider the jurisdiction of the law, as only certain companies can provide services in certain jurisdictions. So if procurement can be really useful for in-house lawyers and law firms and they won`t disappear, then the real question is: what can procurement do to win legally? In fact, both sides have had to get smarter in this regard, and internal teams are starting to take a closer look at whether or not they`re getting the best deal.
Here, a good mature procurement function is an asset for the legal team acting as a trusted advisor. Procurement can analyze and prepare strategic data, ask the right questions to external companies, and work with GC in the data collection phase to give the legal team a clear and transparent picture of their options. If the preparatory work of pricing specialists is done in this way, it is difficult to see how it is not about the function. Keith Maziarek, head of strategic pricing at law firm DLA Piper, agrees: “In the past, a company didn`t have the same analytical rigour as other departments on the budgeting process. But it`s become clear that the legal department doesn`t get a blank check every year and you need performance metrics. In response, Maziarek said law firms needed to look at how to become more demanding, how to bid on work, and report on their progress and financial performance against budgets. Maziarek says the discussion has turned to this concept of value since the budget constraints that followed the financial crisis. This is the difference between “value” and “cost,” and it is imperative that a procurement function understands that value is multifaceted.