RFP Market Trend: “slimmer panel sizes” (Legal Week article)

Legal week posted an article this week about a trend they are seeing in UK law firm where companies are reducing the number of firms on their panels.Two of the general counsel interviewed for the piece gave the following reasons behind the trend. 

Dana Grey, director of legal, compliance and ethics for Pension Protection Fund recently slashed its legal panel from 23 firms to six following a six-month procurement process. Grey says the cull was necessary to ensure the selected law firms understood the company’s business and objectives thoroughly, were available to meet face-to-face regularly, and felt more invested in their contract with the company.

“It was hard for me to maintain relationships with 23 different firms,” “Because of the size of the panel and stream of work, it would be hard for the firms to invest as much into the relationship as they would if they are on a smaller panel where they get more targeted amounts of work,” she adds.

Heathrow completed its legal panel review earlier this year, cutting its roster from nine firms to seven. Heathrow GC and chief of staff Carol Hui says that although the company did not set out to reduce its legal panel, the process gravitated toward a select few law firms that were “more aligned with our vision and purpose, had better diversity and inclusion elements, focused on sustainability, and had a greater understanding of Heathrow.”

“There are good reasons for slimming down,” Hui says. “To work with fewer firms means you can build better and stronger relationships with them, making it more meaningful in terms of transactions.”  Hui believes the procurement process is now more rigorous and the appointments are more important, given the reduced lineup. “It’s an extension of your organization,” she says, “so it’s quite right that people should be put through their paces.”

The theme of the article is that some UK based companies are finding it more likely to unlock “true collaboration” with a fewer number of firms on the panel as they are able to send the firms a larger volume of work and they can develop a deeper understanding of the company.

To read the full article, click here.