Category Archives for "Sole Provider"

Sep 19

Why A Start-Up Wouldn’t Purchase Both Westlaw and Lexis Today

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider

Imagine you had a new start-up law firm. You are deciding which legal-information resources to purchase. You sit down with Lexis and Westlaw. Each offers you the same pricing and contract terms your firm or organization currently has today. Would you purchase both?

With the majority of firms already making the choice to retain just one vendor, the market has proven that firms don’t need both Lexis and Westlaw to operate successfully. It is hard to imagine a start-up today purchasing these redundant services when, instead, the firm could redirect its legal-information budget to a multitude of other products and simultaneously enjoy substantial savings.

Until a decade ago, more than 85% of law firms had both Lexis and Westlaw. The vendors offered products with a lot of unique content, making it justifiable to have both. Additionally, approximately 90% of costs associated with online research were passed through to clients.

Since the 2008 recession, recovery rates have dropped to 36%, overall usage is down and continuing to decline, and Lexis and Westlaw products have become quite similar. While there is still some unique content, it is not enough to justify firms retaining both. And, fortunately, there are many workarounds to alleviate concerns about lost content.

If you are still retaining both vendors, it is time for you to re-evaluate your legal information vendor portfolio. Feit Consulting’s Sole Provider Playbook provides a step-by-step process for firms to assess the option and, if viable, implement the change. Learn more here.

Sep 15

One of the largest law firms goes sole-provider. Does this foretell the Wexis monopoly demise in the largest segment?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

Today, over 50% of large law firms retain only Lexis or only Westlaw. Within large law, 21% of firms with over 500 attorneys have gone this route. However, recently White & Case shared their success with one provider for their legal information research. Does this change your view on considering the option? How does this shape your legal information strategy?

Feit Consulting has been monitoring the sole-provider trend for over a decade. As corporate clients pushed back on research costs, firms were not able to recover costs entirely. The effect on the bottom line pushed some firms to make the decision to go sole-provider. The freedom of funds allows firms and organizations to purchase wish-list software and technology to enhance the delivery of legal information. While this has worked for some, the big question is whether it is the right decision for your firm or organization.

How should you proceed?

1) Get the pricing intel to determine if contract pricing is favorable. Compare contracts with market intel in Feit’s white paper, Optimizing Legal Information Pricing.

2) Whether or not your firm or organization has favorable pricing, this alone does not predetermine whether you should keep both vendors. It is worthwhile to assess the viability of sole-provider option. Develop a business case. If needed, check out this resource, the Sole Provider Viability Decision Guide.

3) Execute and implement. Consider hiring a consultant if you decide to make a change.

Regardless of the outcome, exploring the sole-provider option is a healthy step in revising your legal information strategy and can provide intelligence to enhance your tactics for upcoming negotiation. If you choose to do it alone, these resources are an advantage to legal information decision-makers toward which steps and considerations to include in the process.

Sep 15

Don’t Be a Hostage to Your Vendor

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

Perhaps your firm or organization has always operated with both Lexis and Westlaw. The option of eliminating may seem foreign. For other firms or companies, perhaps the idea of eliminating a vendor came up to close to negotiation deadline.

There are options! You don’t need to be a hostage to your vendor if you have enough time to evaluate the options. The evaluation process in itself can prove fruitful, sharing pertinent information that can be used in the negotiation process.

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. Lexis and Westlaw have both successfully infiltrated law firms’ cultures and infrastructures over their many years of service.

Where to start:
1) Get the pricing intel to determine your pricing is favorable. Compare contracts with market intel in Feit’s white paper, Optimizing Legal Information Pricing.
2) Assess the viability of the sole-provider option. Evaluate the option at your organization. Develop a business case. If needed, check out this resource, the Sole Provider Viability Decision Guide.
3) Execute and implement. Consider hiring a consultant to manage the process.
Exploring the sole-provider option is a healthy step in revising your legal-information strategy and can provide insightful information for contract negotiations. If you choose to do it alone, these resources are an advantage to legal-information decision makers on what steps and considerations should be made in the process.

 

Jun 22

Is Sole-Provider the Best Option?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

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.

Jun 16

Don’t Be a Hostage to Your Vendor

By Kate | Sole Provider , White Papers

Many firms become a hostage to their vendor due to timing. The timeline for negotiating is dictated by contract expirations. Two or more years of dedicated planning allows for adequate time to evaluate the value of legal information resources and consider if vendor elimination or flipping to another vendor is an option. Your firm may get stuck with a vendor simply because there is not enough time to explore other options.

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. Lexis and Westlaw have both successfully infiltrated law firms’ cultures and infrastructures over their many years of service.

An evaluation of the sole-provider option has become necessary for law firm administrators. 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. Additionally, understanding the value of choosing either Lexis or Westlaw for your firm can be advantageous in negotiations.

The Sole Provider Playbook has been developed to be an all-encompassing guide, with tools to quickly determine the viability of the sole-provider option and how to actually execute it. If your firm first wants to only evaluate the sole-provider option, then the Sole Provider Viability Decision Guide is a great starting place. Click here to learn more about Feit Consulting’s Sole Provider Playbook.

Apr 17

A Librarian’s Perspective: Concerns of Eliminating a Vendor

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

As a former research librarian who has worked at various large law firms across the country, I always looked forward to visits from our vendors, in particular our regular weekly Lexis and Westlaw rep visits. Throughout my many years of working in law firms, I developed numerous friendships and truly considered our Westlaw and Lexis reps to be part of our extended library team. During this time I always considered how difficult it must be for law library directors to make the decision to go sole-provider, especially when so often there are strong relationships in place with both vendor reps and account managers. Today, that seems to be less of an issue, as there has been an increase in turnover of Lexis and Westlaw reps and decreased firm visits.

Law library directors are under significant pressure from administrators tasking them with saving their firm money, all the while having to deal with the pressure and demands of attorneys and paralegals who are terrified of losing content if one of the vendors is eliminated, and keeping their users happy. It is critical to take emotions out of the equation when making critical decisions about vendors and focus on what is best for your law firm and users. With so much duplicate content on both Westlaw and Lexis, cutting one of these providers can mean significant savings to law firms. As a new member of the Feit Consulting team, reading our white paper The Sole Provider Playbook was eye-opening for me, as I didn’t realize all of the steps involved when going sole-provider and the length of time the entire process can take.

Some things I learned:

1.) Eliminating Westlaw is a much more difficult task than eliminating Lexis. Westlaw’s popularity is one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome.

2.) Feit Consulting forecasts that by 2018, 58% of large law firms will have eliminated a vendor. For the first time since the 1990’s, retaining just one vendor has become the norm.

3.) Creating small 2-4 person task forces, comprised of librarians, associates, IT staff, etc., can help make the transition to a sole provider easier and more inclusive. Ideas for task forces include ones on Vendor Strategies, Content Hurdles, Purchasing, and a User Buy-In task force. The more inclusive the process is, the easier the transition will be for everyone involved. Heavy users of the vendors should be included.

4.) Today, there are numerous on-demand research services that that can serve as an excellent tool for access to lost content.

If you are new to the process and want to be prepared, this step-by-step inclusive guide is essential reading to help you navigate all of the intricacies of vendor elimination. Law firms should carefully evaluate their need to retain both vendors. Our Sole Provider Playbook will not only guide you, but will empower you, through the sole-provider process.