Procurement’s Increasing Influence on Legal Buying Decisions
April 15, 2018
diversity legal innovation legal procurement buying legal services legal services procurement
Buying Legal Council’s 2018 Legal Procurement Survey has been released, offering insights into the buying of legal services. This interview with Dr Silvia Hodges Silverstein, the Executive Director of BLC, sheds light on some of the highlighted trends.
Just like NewLaw, legal technology and legal chief operating officers, the rise of the influence of procurement teams in law is set to continue. I have found the growing relationship between procurement and legal fascinating over the last ten years. More legal departments are starting to embrace and support the process and businesses are insisting on bringing legal spend into the procurement fold.
The relationship takes time. According to the survey, it takes five years for legal procurement professionals to really contribute. The top goals for 2018 are capturing and analysing spend data, as well as reducing legal spend.
I am looking forward to speaking at this year’s Buying Legal Counsel EMEA conference about innovation in legal procurement and how that can help the relationship, create savings and hit both sides’ objectives for controlling legal spend and creating diversity. Join us on Tuesday 12th June.
Following top management’s mandate legal spend is increasingly under review and actively managed by procurement. A relationship-driven business approach to buying – and selling – legal services is now a small minority among the largest spenders. It is replaced by a professional, business-driven approach to sourcing.
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