Blog Post

An Update On External Legal Service Providers | Exigent

June 12, 2017

CCCA and OBA presents Outsourcing Legal:  Changing landscape of external legal service providers Nov 27, 2014. This event, hosted by McCarthy Tetrault, included Alaine Grand, GC from Astra Zeneca, Rubsun Ho, founder of Cognition LLP, Matthew Peters, managing director of McCarthy Tetrault and Exigent’s CEO, David Holme. The key players are looking for new, efficient ways to drive down legal spend, either internally and externally and prefers to buy on a global scale but isn’t sure that the market is ready! The legal “business” needs to start talking and acting like an actual business to ensure that value is being driven from every possible place.

“Outsourcing legal” is one of the biggest #trending topics in the Canadian legal market today.  The need to drive efficiency and cost-savings from external legal counsel are definitely on the minds of in-house counsel.  A sold out event (both for attendees in-person and for the webinar) is a testament to the need for external legal providers in everyday practice.  Law firms need to stand up and commit to joint delivery models, similar to what McCarthy Tetrault has done with a strategic relationship with Exigent group, or step aside!

Matthew Peters, managing director of McCarthy Tetrault continued by discussing the innovative approach that McCarthy is taking in the Canadian marketplace including a joint delivery model that aims to provide value to clients by mixing the right people, in the right place at the right location.  Matthew and his clients agree that paying for junior lawyers to sit on Bay street to perform routine tasks just does not commercially make sense.  Client driven propositions such as McCarthy’s “fixed fee M&A” products utilizes their strategic relationship with Exigent.  Rubsun brought up the analogy of using a general contractor to perform all of your construction needs.  Would you want a plumber to be putting on your roof?  Using specialists in their prospective areas makes sense in the construction trade… why is it not the same for legal?  McCarthy’s approach of utilizing specialists not only ensures that the client receives the highest quality work but it also drives down #biglaw prices to bring value to clients.  A trend that is not going away!

0