All Posts by Michael Feit

About the Author

Michael Feit earned his J.D. from the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago and was an executive at Westlaw before founding Feit Consulting 16 years ago. Feit Consulting partners with law firm administrators and legal information professionals to optimize vendor contracts and the management and delivery of legal information resources by providing leading-edge, customized solutions. Contact Michael at mike@feitconsulting.com

Mar 20

ROI and the Modern Law Library

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Best Practices , Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends , Modern Law Library , Resources , Surveys , White Papers

The Modern Library requires individuals to change their mindset from maintaining the status quo to adopting a new way of doing things. What is the ROI of your Law Library?  Do you feel the library’s resources are being optimized?

Our team of experts evaluate resources, personnel, technology, processes, and overall usage of the Library and its’ resources.

This allows Feit Consulting to custom tailor and deliver invaluable knowledge, guidance and processes for analyzing the ROI of your legal information portfolio.

A Modern Library Audit will include clear steps to increasing the Return On Investment of your Library by evaluating the utilization of personnel, internal processes, technology, legal information resources and the overall support for the business of law.  With this information we will develop a unique business plan with workable recommendations that are specific to your firm’s needs and culture.

Another excellent resource for ROI assessment is our Market Trends Legal Information Series.  This series is composed of white papers and survey results on pertinent topics such as:

  • How to take a proactive approach to evaluating the sole-provider option allowing you to make informed decisions regarding vendor elimination.
  • How to assess the value of your firm’s resources and learn key negotiation tools for optimizing results.
  • The historical pricing and current strategies of Westlaw & Lexis featuring data on 98% of the large law market.
  • Best practices on modernizing the law library to create efficiencies including survey results and checklists for evaluating technologies.

As thought leaders working to challenging existing paradigms, Feit Consulting is committed to providing your firm with tools, concrete steps and leading-edge solutions for making the best decision for your legal information strategy and bottom line.  CLICK HERE and Contact Feit Today for More Information.  

Mar 20

Sole Provider is not for every firm. Have you evaluated the option for your firm?

By Michael Feit | Feit Consulting , Sole Provider

The sole-provider option is not for every firm, and largely depends on your firm’s legal practices, recovery rates, contract pricing, and usage. While the option may not be the right decision for every firm, an evaluation of the sole-provider option is necessary for law firm administrators.

The idea of transitioning to sole-provider can be daunting, considering the many individuals and processes that might be impacted. There are a great number of elements to examine, from contracts to content, not to mention the strong reactions of users to fundamental system changes.

Whether or not a firm chooses to go sole-provider, the evaluation in itself provides an opportunity for a firm to review, revise and refine its legal information strategy and potentially save significant money. In a secret pricing market, knowledge is power. Knowing to what extent the sole-provider option is viable for your firm can serve as great leverage in contract negotiations.

Feit Consulting’s Sole Provider Viability Decision Guide walks legal information administrators through the pre-decision process, and lays out the groundwork necessary for informed decision-making. Learn more about this resource here.

Contact Feit Consulting today for a free consultation on what sole provider means for your firm. Click here to get started.

Mar 19

Are you ready for your next Contract Negotiation?

By Michael Feit | Feit Consulting , Pricing

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.

Planning ahead with the right tools and knowledge is not only critical but absolutely necessary for success. Key leveraging points may include change in size of firm, ample time to make certain contracts co-terminus, firm-wide interest in the sole-provider option, usage and value of each legal information resource, to name a few. A multi-year plan allows one to know ahead of time what the firm’s goals are going into contract negotiations.

With 3+ year contracts, the deadlines can seem to immediately appear without realizing the time left to prepare. Firms that obtain market knowledge to compare their contract pricing, coupled with key metrics to assess contract resources’ value, will gain significant leverage in legal information contract negotiations. 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.

Mar 19

When do contracts longer than 3 years make sense?

By Michael Feit | Pricing , White Papers

Both Lexis and Westlaw are currently pitching long-term deals. This is symptomatic of a saturated market. Online usage and recovery rates have been declining since 2008 and as a result pricing has declined. Why lock your firm into a long-term price commitment in this rapidly evolving market?

Negotiating with the vendors can be a frustrating, drawn-out and often unsatisfying process. For many of our clients, negotiating ranks with tax-time on everyone’s list of fun things to do making the idea of fewer renewals sound enticing.

However, with rare exceptions, a long-term contract is among the worst paths a firm can choose for several reasons. One important reason seems obvious: change. Technology and pricing are continuously changing. You wouldn’t buy a plan that kept you from upgrading your phone for 5 years, would you? The legal information landscape is rapidly evolving with exciting acquisitions and new companies/products emerging. These products will continue to pull away use and interest in Lexis and Westlaw. It is always possible that one change in the market could make another product irrelevant. And as Artificial Intelligence rapidly gains momentum, there is much to be seen. What will the legal information landscape look like in 5 years?

Generally, a longer contract benefits the vendor. For legal information contracts, we always advise keeping the term to within your near- and long-term forecasts, generally 3 years or fewer unless you are receiving a truly exceptional deal.

How exceptional is the new proposal? What are the year over year increases? What additional benefits are you receiving for a longer-term contract? Perhaps your firm/organization deleted the vendor in the past and is seeking to reinstate, leading to pricing and terms that are best in market. Make sure they are, and not just because the vendor has told you so. Another option to consider is bundling. Bundling products together can be an advantageous for some. However, for many, a new contract bundle may be hiding unnecessary products or content that the firm or organization doesn’t need. Take a good look at the bundle being offered. It could be a great deal, or it might not, but in either case, it is worth investigating.
Your current contract pricing and terms serve as the basis for upcoming contract negotiations. Learn whether your current contracts or vendor proposals are on par with Feit Consulting’s Market Benchmarks. We can shed light on spend per attorney, discount, and usage. Contact a Feit Advisor to have your contracts and proposals benchmarked. Alternatively, utilize Feit Consulting’s Optimizing Legal Information Pricing report which shares Feit’s market knowledge on these metrics along with concrete strategies to maximize results in your legal information contract negotiations.
Mar 19

Upcoming With Feit Consulting – Stay Connected

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Events , Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends

Interested in staying abreast of Feit Consulting’s latest New & Insights or which upcoming events or conferences you can see us at, sign up to stay connected.

Coming this summer Feit Consulting will introduce our 360 Webinar Series, a special benefit of the FEIT360 Plus subscription. As thought leaders in legal information, Feit Consulting continues to evolve to meet our client’s needs. FEIT360 Plus was designed to provide law firm administrators and legal information managers an avenue to utilize expert consultants with planned costs. Firms and organizations that subscribe to FEIT360 Plus receive special access to the Market Trends Legal Information White Papers white papers, on-call consulting, project specific solutions, and more. Learn more about the benefits of FEIT360 plus. Contact a Feit Advisor today to set up a call to learn more about the benefits of FEIT360 Plus for your firm or organization.

 

Mar 16

Now Available: Library Modernization Survey Results

By Michael Feit | Survey Results

 

Today’s librarians are innovators acting as the information hub to support the everyday business of law whether competitive intelligence, client intake, knowledge management and more. But every library is different. Where does your firm fall on the innovation/modernization scale?

Feit Consulting’s has released its latest survey findings. The Library Modernization Survey Results share the questions and analyzed responses of 80 participants, with charts and direct comments. Gain perspective on how the Modern Law Library movement is being realized. You’ll learn what obstacles are holding back law libraries from fully modernizing, and which resources they are accessing to modernize.

Here are some surprises we found:

  • Half of the respondents indicate that firm management doesn’t really understand the role of the library.
  • Nearly two-thirds of law firm libraries surveyed operate using only some or none of initiatives of the firm’s overall strategic plan.

Consider the value of the resources and skills that you offer your firm. Does the library have the right tools in place to support the changing needs of the firm? Does firm leadership capitalize on the skills of your team to assess, implement and utilize new processes and technology to move the firm’s strategic vision forward?

To purchase a copy of the Library Modernization Survey Results, click here.

Purchase of the Survey Results can be applied to the purchase of Feit Consulting’s white paper: Beyond Virtualization: Transforming the Law Library. This report was developed with intel from over 250 interviews and in-depth surveys with legal information professionals. Included are check-lists and best practices to guide your firm in achieving maximum ROI – whether those investments are in people or resources.

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