The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/43128
BEST T PRACTICES Cost Reduction Strategies for the Modern Firm he earliest people who could be described as "lawyers" were probably the ancient Athenian orators who plied their rhetoric in the open forum of the agora. Today, lawyers orate in groups called firms, which must strive to be as profitable as possible in order to remain competitive in business amidst modern constraints. However, many firms still adhere to antiquated ways of conducting daily operations that stymie the growth of the bottom line. For firms ready to modernize, here are some of the best expense- reducing strategies available. TAKING A FIRMWIDE VIEW ON CONTRACTS It is surprising how many multi-office law firms do not have firmwide contracts for reprographic equipment, office supplies, offsite records storage and outsourcing services. The arguments against this used to be that there weren't vendors capable of servicing firms on a usually these special needs are related more to service levels and individual preferences. If you really dig into these needs, you will usually find that they do not justify the additional costs and can easily be satisfied by a firmwide plan. BREAK DOWN THE TOWN WALLS Another surprise is how many firms are still siloed when "There is no reason a single, large vendor cannot service a firm on a national basis." national basis or that individual offices had special needs. Regarding the vendor bandwidth arguments, today that simply isn't the case. If the RFP and subsequent contract is structured correctly and the due diligence is thorough, there is no reason a single, large vendor cannot service a firm on a national basis. For those instances of a single office, 99 percent can be accommodated and serviced adequately. As for the special needs argument, certainly there are areas of the law that require special procedures, but 14 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer it comes to overlapping areas. An excellent example is with printed output. Many firms still have one department managing the multifunctional devices (MFDs — a.k.a. copiers) and another department, usually IT, managing the local and networked printers. This typically results in redundancy of capacity and increased expense. Based on our studies, the vast majority of law firms utilize less than 10 percent of their output capacity, while corporations utilize in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 percent. This delta of 20 to 30 percent can account for up to 50 percent of the department's annual costs, and this is completely unnecessary. Even if two departments are still involved, creating a firmwide, unified output plan can still bring tremendous savings and efficiencies. Maximizing MFD black and white and color output, and reducing the placement of local printers, is a huge step towards that 50 percent reduction in departmental costs.