Client RFPs on the Rise

Corporate Counsel and Law.com report: "More Frequent, Elaborate RFPs Challenge Outside Counsel" --

• "According to a recent survey by LexisNexis, 42 percent of law firms have seen an increase in requests for proposal from in-house law departments this year. The increased pressure to compete for corporate business is putting added strain on firms."
• "Larger firms respond to a higher level of solicitations than their small-firm counterparts. Sixty-six percent of respondents came from firms with at least 100 lawyers. Overall, firms averaged five to 16 proposals per month, but 15 percent — mostly firms on the higher end in terms of staff — averaged more than 21 RFPs each month. The largest firms in the survey dedicated 4,800 hours to law department proposals per year."
• "'It used to be that law firms sent their rainmaker out to sit across the table from a company's general counsel and sell them on the firm,' says Sidwell. Today's departments are taking a much more methodical approach to the RFP process. 'It's a wake-up call for law firms,' he says."

This is an important trend for risk professionals to take note of. As we've highlighted, along with other industry reports including the Risk Roundtable law firm surveys, client RFPs increasingly address risk and compliance issues, including firm information governance and confidentiality practices.