Category Archives for "Contract Negotiations"

Tough Choices: Navigating Difficult Decisions in the Legal Information Market 

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Sole Provider , White Papers

Achieving optimal results in legal information management and costs requires tough decisions. The decisions may be small, as to which content or products to keep, or grand, like the consideration of eliminating or flipping a vendor.

When a library audit is completed, it may become apparent that retaining a resource that is rarely used is not worth the costs. However, on the flip side this could upset the 1 or 2 people who do utilize it. If deleted, an alternative option may be as simple as a different product, or it could be more time spent by accessing a local law library.

Another difficult choice is the decision of whether to eliminate Lexis or Westlaw (for firms who currently retain both) or to flip to the alternative (for firms who currently retain only Lexis or only Westlaw). In either instance, this is a complex change-management process. The downsides include a lengthy process from start to finish, the amount of time necessary within the process by key personnel to execute, and the general adversity by many towards change. The upsides: the process forces a firm to really review each and every resource–how they are used and the value they bring, substantial savings with available funds to purchase more complementary resources, and price correction. To correct the pricing path your firm has been on, the firm might need to eliminate a vendor for a short period of time or indefinitely. If your firm has been with a vendor for a while, flipping to a new vendor may present the best outcome.

Feit Consulting’s Legal Information Market Trends Series addresses the questions and concerns facing law firm administrators. Each report is a tool that offers guidance and insight with supporting data from interviews and/or surveys. Learn more about these tools here.

Take it or leave it! Really?

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations

Of course usage matters!

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations , White Papers

Usage is the purest barometer of how valuable a tool is to an organization. How much you use any product or service is your best indicator of how valuable it is.

So maybe this is why legal information vendors no longer want to talk about usage. If it is clear that usage has declined, then discussing this would undermine any reasoning for an increase in your next contract.

When Lexis and Westlaw considered usage as a factor in pricing, many big-city and larger Am-Law firms had the highest usage. Therefore, these firms were unfortunately locked in at higher pricing than the rest of the market.

Today, while these vendors do not recognize usage as a relevant factor, this does not mean your firm should acquiesce.

If your firm is curious about metrics to use in contract negotiations and how your firm compares to the market, consider our next report, Optimizing Legal Information Pricing.

Year-End Vendor Gifts Too Good to be True?

By Kate | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations , Pricing

Year-end holidays are full of fun, gifts, giving and cheer!

But beware of those special tidings from your legal information vendors that seem too good to be true.

Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg, WK–virtually all your legal information vendors–provide bonuses and incentives to salespeople who can add incremental sales at the end of the year.

Vendors may offer year-end gifts that on the surface seem quite generous. The resulting variety of offers can be staggering but can also be tricks. Your firm may be offered price breaks on new contracts, extensions on current deals, trial periods of new products, and the list goes on and on. There may be something hidden in these special tidings. If a vendor has proposed to extend your contract at the same price or slightly lower price, it is very possible your firm is already paying too much.

Be proactive this December! Get the gift you truly want. If you have a wishlist, tell your vendor now; you just might get a deal you actually want. Don’t play “Secret Santa” with your vendors; take a moment now to anticipate the year-end push, and alert the rest of the firm to be wary of reps bearing gifts.

Oversaturated Market Causes Unfavorable Contracts for Loyal Customers

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Pricing

If you love Nordstrom (or Target, Starbucks, etc), being a loyal customer has lots of benefits.

Retailing in the 21st century is oversaturated, so many similar brands create a bidding war for consumers.

And loyal consumers win the most: discounts, perks, events, you name it–they all await the customer willing to channel more spending toward one brand.

That mentality is so ingrained, it’s easy to think it’s true with your legal information vendors. Sadly, it’s the opposite.

The key difference, of course, is that legal information isn’t really a marketplace at all, and the benefits of open competition don’t apply.

Stick with Westlaw and/or Lexis long enough, and chances are you’ll be getting among the worst value.

In legal information the best deals and offers are reserved for new customers. And who’s funding those great deals? Loyal customers like you.

The new customer is their preferred customer. Loyal customers just pay for it.

Beware of 5-year contracts.

By Kate | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations

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.  One of the key emotions we see in clients approaching the end of a contract with either Westlaw or Lexis is dread. So, a longer contract with fewer renewals sounds like a great idea.   However, with rare exceptions, a long-term contract is among the worst paths a firm can choose, for several reasons. The first 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? Additionally, prices are always changing, and for Lexis and Westlaw that change has been downward. The second reason is trust. If you don’t trust your vendor enough to deliver a good deal every 2-3 years, why on Earth would you believe a 4-5 year offer is better?   Finally, who knows what the legal information landscape will 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.