How Procurement Impacts Law Firm Selection

February 8, 2016

Early Bird Price: $185 USD

Early Bird Deadline: Monday, January 18, 2016

Regular Price: $225 USD

Seating is limited

There will be no "at-the-door" reservations

The legal market is changing fast and procurement has rapidly moved to the front lines to become a determining force and deciding factor with respect to which law firms get the work.

Global procurement leaders will share insights on what they like, need and expect when hiring outside counsel. Legal services providers will discuss valuable “lessons learned”.

Perspectives on the following will be discussed:

The role of legal sourcing – more sophisticated than you may think
What legal sourcing professionals want in proposals
How to avoid raising red flags that result in self-sabotage
Reverse auctions and their role in sourcing
How to build a relationship with sourcing
Pricing and AFAs critical to winning and keeping clients
How and at what point in the process law firms most often fail
The three things sourcing wants to change about how law firms respond to RFPs

When:	Monday, February 8, 2016
Host:
Location:	Baker Botts LLP One Shell Plaza 910 Louisiana Street 32nd Floor Houston, Texas
Registration & Continental Breakfast:	7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
Presentation:	8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Legal Sourcing Panelists:

Vincent J. Cordo, Global Sourcing Officer, Shell Global.

Vincent Cordo serves as the Global Sourcing Officer for Shell’s legal team. He is responsible for industry-leading client value pricing and inventory pipeline management proficiencies. He leads alternative (appropriate) fee arrangements (AFAs) and Legal Project Management strategies related to the evaluation and implementation of outside counsel, pricing/service delivery, value pricing, and matter management. Vincent is also responsible for organizing efficient and capable teams of professionals to align project management and process improvement with business drivers and assigning resources, tools and tactics to help satisfy Shell’s legal business needs.

In 2013, Vincent co-authored (with Toby Brown) and published Law Firm Pricing: Strategies, Roles, and Responsibilities and in 2015 published a chapter in the Legal Procurement Handbook focusing on key performance indicators to measure value, performance, risk, and impact on spend and recovery. He oversees the strategy and application of each of these areas which drives Shell’s efforts to define and deliver maximum value and quality legal services.

Prior to joining Shell, Vincent was the Global Director, Client Value at Reed Smith LLP, a leading international law firm. His responsibilities included Reed Smith's global strategy relating to the evaluation and implementation of Value Pricing, Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs), Client Service Level Agreements and Legal Project Management (LPM).

Marco Perez, Senior Director, Head of Procurement USA & Legal Global Category, Royal Bank of Canada.

Marco Perez is responsible for initiating procurement processes for purchasing legal services at the Royal Bank. In this role, he leads a team of 10 procurement specialists dedicated to delivering strong financial benefits, best in class procurement practices and increased innovation from suppliers. His team manages RBC third party spend of approximately $90 MM/year for all categories (except real estate) including legal procurement.

He works closely with the in-house legal team to understand their needs and establish best practices. Building upon successfully maximizing efficiencies and lowering costs he is an advocate for alternative fee arrangements and establishing a win/win relationship with external counsel.

Toby Brown, Chief Practice Officer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Toby Brown is the Chief Practice Officer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP where he works with firm partners and clients to develop pricing arrangements and service delivery models that drive successful relationships. He oversees operations of firm pricing, legal project management, practice innovation and alternative staffing efforts. He works closely with practice groups re-engineering practice efforts to align with pricing situations and client needs.

Toby is an industry leading pricing and legal project management expert and has experience building pricing and project management programs at three AmLaw 50 firms. He is an expert in client fee negotiations, profit modeling, establishing profit methodologies, developing fee arrangements and monitoring fee deals. He also has experience with process mapping, process improvement, practice innovation, alternative staffing and outsource partnering.

He co-authored book Law Firm Pricing: Strategies, Roles, and Responsibilities with Vincent Cordo and regularly presents and publishes in the US on legal technology, marketing and law firm management, and maintains the ABA award winning 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

Moderator:

Nancey Watson, President, NL Watson Consulting Inc.

Nancey is a proposal consultant working with law firms to improve their responses to procurement-led RFPs and develops strategies to increase win rates. She is often called in to strategize complex proposals. Nancey also works with in-house counsel and procurement to tailor RFPs for law firms.

Who Should Attend:

Law Firm Partners
Managing Partners
Practice Group Heads
Chief Marketing Officers
Chief Operating Officers
Pricing Managers
Senior Proposal Managers
Senior Business Development Professionals

Quotes from Past Attendees:

Managing Partner, Global Law Firm

All Managing Partners should have been here!

Director, Marketing & Business Development, National Law Firm

The seminar provided invaluable insight into the priorities of procurement officers and understanding their perspective will allow us to work more collaboratively with them in the future.

Legal Consultant, National Law Firm

Best seminar I have attended in years! Learned a lot from the panelists' candid comments.

Proposal Manager, Global Firm

Thanks for opening the dialogue between procurement and law firms. We will definitely put this information into practice.

Pricing Director, Global Law Firm

Great speakers, provided lots of useful insight on pricing expectations.

If you have any questions, please contact Nancey Watson at nlwatson@sympatico.ca or call 416-885-2448.

Organized by:

CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY

Written requests for registration refunds must be received via email by Monday, February 1, 2016. All conference cancellations received on or before that date will receive a full refund less a $75.00 USD administrative fee. No refunds will be made after Monday, February 1, 2016 (registration is transferable, name substitutions only). Refunds are not given for no-shows.

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