Monthly Archives: January 2018

Modern Library Audit: Are you optimizing your current resources?

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Best Practices , Feit Consulting , Librarians , Resources

A Modern Library Audit is a measure of the utilization of personnel, internal processes, technology, legal information contracts and the overall support for the business of law.

Having an outside, objective analysis will save the firm/organization time and money. It is an investment in supporting the business of law. In this two-month audit, Feit Consulting will examine each of component of your library and provide clear recommendations specific to your firm/organization with the goal of saving money, improving efficiencies, and maximizing the utilization of resources.

Some of the unique topics that Feit Consulting will cover include;

• What best practices need updating ?
• Have you benchmarked your contracts lately ?
• Are your integrated library resources optimized ?

Having a 3rd party can add an objective view to your library

Click here to set up an initial, complimentary consultation. https://www.feitconsulting.com/get-started/

Billables: A Metric of the Modern Law Library

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Budgeting , Modern Law Library , Pricing

Seeking out new ways to (bill) financially support the library is a core element of the library modernization.  Feit Consulting’s research found that 94% of Libraries that deem themselves “modern” are billing for their time.

Billing for Library time and research services is an easy metric to illustrate use and ROI, if your firm has the necessary tools in place.

Here are 3 tips for how to implement appropriate billing practices.

1.  Monthly Monitoring – You can work with Finance to obtain monthly reports.  These monthly reports allows one to see which attorneys are passing on costs or writing off your time.  This information provides talking points for conversations with attorneys, shedding light on which attorneys are billing and which are not.
2. Highlight Expertise – For some, the title of librarian is not optimal for billing.  If the case, it could be time to change the billing title to analyst or senior analyst.  This provides an opportunity to dispel the librarian stereotype.  Many attorneys are not aware of the librarian credentials and subject expertise.  
3. Create a Billing Structure – There are various ways billing can occur.  The Library’s time can be directly billed to usage.  Alternatively, the Library’s costs could be divided evenly amongst all attorneys. 

Billing time allows the Library to function like a business, and provides data for annual budget development.  If these conversations are not yet part of one’s annual budget development, it can feel uncomfortable at first but is necessary to becoming a Modern Library.

3 Things every Administrator Needs to be Doing in January

By Michael Feit | Librarians , Resources

Start the year off right with proper planning and strategy development. Success, in large part, is determined by the correct allocation of resources. This includes having enough time to collect needed information, ensuring staff understand the priorities with enough time to execute. Here are three things a Legal Information Administrator or Librarian can do to start the year off right.

1. Calendar out important vendor contract dates. Contract expirations are important. Go a step further. Plan out far in advance of contract expiration when planning for contract negotiations will take place. Allow time for evaluating the value of resources such as number of users and how much these users utilize a certain resource.
2. Revisit your Legal Information Strategy. Reviewing your strategy ensures your goal setting for 2018 is in line with the firm/organization’s anticipated changes and goals.
3. Determine which big initiative the Library will take on this year. Will it be a Collection Audit? Modern Library Audit? New ERM tool? No matter how small or large, allocate a few hours for each staff member to collect data and details that will eventually feed into the business case or announcement to the firm.

How Timing Impacts Your Legal Information Pricing

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations

Negotiating an expensive legal-information contract requires more than a few conversations with the vendor. If you want the most value for your buck, allocate the appropriate amount of time to evaluate your resources. Assess usage, content redundancies on other vendor products, practice group or firm size changes–to name just a few.

Many firms give themselves just three months or so to work on their next round of legal-information contracts. Whenever possible, however, it is best to allocate more time for planning and evaluating the real value of legal-information resources. The vendors will have their own timeline. However, your timeline should be much longer to account for resource evaluation prior to the start of vendor negotiations.

With 3+ year contracts, the deadlines can seem to immediately appear without realizing the time left to prepare. Get the tools you need now in order to successfully negotiate and optimize your firm’s legal-information resources and pricing. Working with a consultant can help your firm navigate the complexities of these important vendor negotiations. Feit Consulting partners with firms to strategize and obtain optimal contract pricing and terms. Learn more about our consulting services here.