Helping Law Firms Assess Your Portfolios of Expenses and Save Money

Contract and Expense Assessment and Negotiation Services

Saving money appears never to go out of style!

Unbiased Consulting assesses and reviews your entire spend and expense portfolio, identifying contractual and tactical expense improvement, consolidation and general cost reduction and deal improvement opportunities.  We derive recommendations in approach, timeline, return on investment and help with the negotiation and execution of more favorable expense agreements and payments.  

Our team includes procurement experts, former industry, service or product insiders, technologists, operations professionals and resources who bring both vertical and category area of purchase, subject matter expertise.  In addition, some of our team members are former, but now, non-practicing lawyers, who are do not offer substantive legal advice, as we are not a law firm, however our team helps you determine approaches and options.  Our assessment, selection, recommendations and negotiation work is consistent with best practice.  We are not in place to “beat up” your providers, rather we work with them to achieve your goals, but at a fair price.

EXPENSE INVENTORY

We identify and manage the capture of invoices, sales agreements, agreements, appendices and exhibits and help prioritize both by timing and materiality,  expense items that can improve your firm’s profits.  Expenses and agreements span everything under the law firm’s domain, including but limited to marketing and PR, real estate, technology, experts, energy, benefits, consumables and many more.  Our assessment and recommendations can address all CAPEX and OPEX items.

ASSESSMENT  

Our engagements typically begin with an assessment of your current state spend.  We investigate what agreements exist, the recentcy and line items of spend, current and historic.  Where agreement inventories do not exist, we help clients assemble.  We often recommend low-cost contract management solutions to capture the artifacts as well as metadata including entity, contract expirations, a variety of terms, dates and other factors to be used to track obligations.  Our team can also recommend and utilize “contract discovery” tools that apply machine learning to identify obligations and material data related to the agreements and spend.  

The assessment typically identifies current state and identifies opportunities for cost savings and  other provision and obligation improvements at a high level – and can identify the relative merits and spend reduction opportunities that exist.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Unbiased Consulting engagements most often move into a recommendations phase, where our consulting team assesses and recommends areas upon which and within which to focus.  Recommendations, can include cost savings, contract and agreement strategy, consolidation and scope opportunities, terms recommendations and other material improvements.  Our team brings many innovative ideas on where the firm can acheive improvement.  While many in this market focus explicitly at short term, tactical cost reduction (where those companies can be paid), we find that immediate and direct cost reduction may not always in the best interest of the client,  Also, we find that some will break the trust relationship between client and provider.  We specifically do not do this.  We recognize that most clients have long term relationships with many providers.  We want to do nothing to erode that trust foundation.  Applying immense pressure often causes the relationship harm and the goals of the firm to backfire.  We do not impair the relationship and in many cases, our clients will ask that we gently (but firmly) help discuss our recommendations with their providers and servicers.  

We want to note that not all recommendations derive direct costs savings.  Improved contract terms have significant merit.  If we can improve costs as well as contract terms, or a combination, those can be big wins.  Reducing contractual risk to the firm and enabling more flexibility, we find have enormous value and our recommendations take strong note of both.

Last, we work with you to co-define the recommendations with the highest priority.  Unbiased Consulting works with you to weigh spend materiality, risk, need, timeframes, benefits and even return on investment to prioritize and sequence the areas of spend deriving the highest benefit to the organization.  

NEGOTIATION AND CONTRACTING

Base on agreed priority, our team defines a detailed path to vendor/provider so that the firm can realize desired objectives for savings, contents of contracts, and contract length.  Unbiased Consulting has a unique method for contract negotiation which has been successful not only in achieving goals, but in putting firm and operational leadership at ease in the contracting environment.

Unbiased Consulting does not always negotiate directly with any provider or vendor.  In many cases, we recommend, or the client prefers to lead the negotiation on their own.  Our method is designed to educate our clients so they can achieve a or the desirable result.  We work with you to define the strategy and approach, understand your needs, identify the needs of the provider in a way to optimize the outcomes.  We often draft emails for clients to communicate desired changes and needs and help advise behind the scenes.   Our dedication to customer service works helps support your goals and minimizes risk of accepting an undesirable contract, agreement, service or product.

The result is achievement of cost savings at a level beyond that of what the firm can typically negotiation on their own.  In addition, we typically can beat the total results of our competitors.  In many  experience enables double digit percentage savings, improvement in array of information delivered, and contract terms that better meet the interests of individual clients.   

PROCUREMENT AND ONGOING EXPENSE MANAGEMENT

Unbiased Consulting not only performs “one-time” reductions, but we also, as a premier consulting firm, help you define strategy, process organization and technology solutions to optimize the spend structure within your law firm.  This often addresses the entire procurement lifecycle including expense and contract development, review and approval, signature (electronic, of course), procurement management and tracking, expense, invoice and payment authorizations and approvals and workflow, payment management, alternative payment approaches, methods and tools, and reporting and management of same.

Let the Unbiased Consulting team work for you.  Let’s find money and efficiency opportunities!