Convergence Programs are Beneficial
Most law departments have read about convergence programs, touted as early as the 90’s by DuPont. Certainly it is easy to understand how identifying the best partners and utilizing them to perform a large percentage of legal work can reap benefits:
· Cost savings through volume discounts· Likelihood of more favorable outcomes due to proven competency and past performance
· Reduced risk from working with vendors that understand the business and the legalities
· Greater efficiency by establishing agreed-upon business processes
· Stronger, long term relationships
Today's Convergence Programs
Despite understanding the benefits, many law departments still do not have a strong convergence program. Some do not know where to start – the process seems overwhelming. They believe they do not have the tools, the data, the support; as such, they never start in the first place. Some organizations may have partially implemented a convergence program, but never fully achieved success. Cultural barriers or existing relationships may stand in the way. And then there are organizations that successfully completed a convergence program, but failed to instill the discipline to regularly evaluate and communicate with partners, thereby allowing performance to lapse and costs to trend upwards.
Convergence programs are more important today than ever before. The economy continues to place pressure on law departments to reduce cost. Yet maintaining control of risk requires diligence, including working with the best team possible. Convergence programs enable the law department to do both and demonstrate that it is taking these mandates seriously.
How is Your Convergence Program Performing?
If your law department has never embarked on a convergence program or believes that the current program is due for a check up, consider working with Baker Robbins & Company. Our team has over more than 50 collective years of consulting and client service experience in the legal industry. We have assisted numerous organizations to design convergence programs and take advantage of the information technology and tools already at their disposal.
For organizations interested in evaluating the feasibility of launching a convergence program or refreshing their current program, Baker Robbins offers a Convergence Program Assessment. During this brief engagement, we will:
· Learn about the organization’s critical goals and initiatives that should govern the definition of the convergence program
· Understand and analyze existing practices surrounding outside counsel evaluation and selection
· Review existing systems and business intelligence tools to understand the current capabilities of the organization to perform ongoing analysis
· Analyze a subset of matter cost and performance data, if available, to understand guideline performance
· Provide an objective assessment describing opportunities for improvement of convergence and evaluation practices and develop a road map for tackling the opportunities described
Call or
email us today to discuss our
flat fee assessment of your department’s use of Outside Counsel Convergence and Evaluation.
Achieve the maximum value from your outside counsel partnerships!