52: Bad Cop Good Cop with Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein

The Growing Role of Legal Procurement.

Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein is the executive director of The Buying Legal Council an organization of procurement and operations professionals tasked with sourcing legal services and managing legal services supplier relationships.

Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein Bio

Legal procurement involvement is a top management mandate to manage costs and supplier spend ensuring that purchases are in compliance with company policies and make sure they use the reputable firms and quality suppliers.

Makes sense for both sides to bring in purchasing and the business side of the law firm ecosystem the ‘bad cops’ so that counsel on both sides can remain ‘good cops’.

The unbundling of work is much more accepted and legal work will continue to shift from traditional firms to new model law firms.

Disruptors operate more simply and are more affordable. Traditional firms may not see those alternatives as attractive but they are attractive to clients.

E-auctions and reverse auctions. To use or not to use is the question the market it beginning to accept them as the new normal.

The use of RFPs and AFA continues to rise and will continue to be used at an increasing rate into the future.

Other very complex businesses figure out how to price their offerings.   There is not a lot of sympathy from other businesses about the hesitation to put a price tag on legal services.

Legal procurement is here to stay. They are number and metrics people – show them vs. tell them.

Seek a relationship with legal procurement. Reach out and have a conversation. Ask questions.