Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 22 BEST PRACTICES Since the 1990s, professional services firms have seen a marked change across the landscape as competition has enabled clients to become more savvy buyers of legal services. The formal request for proposal (RFP), previously relegated to governmental and health care entities, has become a widely accepted tool of large corporate legal procurement teams. To those of you betting the RFP is but a passing fad, think again. Its acceptance and increased use in the legal profession is well-documented, with LexisNexis' 2012 study noting a 42 percent year-over-year increase in the number of RFPs among Am Law firms. Even more recent, marketing and PR consultancy Jaffe reported that "RFPs and RFQs are becoming the norm as corporate clients seek to contract top talent at reduced costs." It would appear that corporate use of the RFP tool in securing legal services is not diminishing. If you are a small to midsize firm, is this RFP trend relevant to your business? A LexisNexis study proved a direct correlation between the size of the firm and the number of RFPs it answered. This, however, is not the case when considered proportionately. Smaller firms averaged 1.2 RFPs per attorney, significantly more than Am Law 50 firms, which averaged 0.4 RFPs per attorney. No matter the size of your firm, RFPs are here for the long haul. Let's make the best out of the process! GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT The goals of issuing an RFP can vary. At the outset, the process seems logical: Both the issuer and the responding law firm hope it will vet several candidates, with a single firm chosen that best matches the particular engagement in mind. This is not always the case. A recent study by Lex Mundi reported reasons such as benchmarking, cost control, establishing a stable of preferred providers and documenting the selection process as some of the most common RFP rationales. When direction is vague and there's little clarity into the process, it is not surprising to hear that sometimes issuers and candidates feel the effort was in vain. We've all heard stories of proposing firms driving an unnecessarily onerous, time-consuming process or issuers receiving canned drivel with little focus on specific client needs. It does not have to be that way. About the Author Mike Mellor is a Marketing Manager at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, an Am Law 100 firm with nearly 700 attorneys in the U.S., U.K. and China. Prior to joining Katten, Mike worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. Before joining legal marketing, he worked at KPMG and Deutsche Asset Management. Mike earned a Master of Science from Columbia University. Contact him at michael.mellor@kattenlaw.com. The All-Consuming RFP Making the Best of the Process Not so long ago, law firms secured much of their business on the basis of long-standing relationships, at both the firm and personal levels, complete with rainmaking partners and two-martini lunches.

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