fm22: when e-billing worlds collide presented by ellen...

Finance & Law Practice Management Conference for Legal Professionals

FM22: When e-Billing Worlds Collide...

Presented by

Ellen Nendorf, JD

Greg Nilsen

10/6/2017

The handouts and presentations attached

are copyright and trademark protected and

provided for individual use only.

WHEN E-BILLING WORLDS COLLIDE…

Document Version 0.1 Date of issue: 06 October 2017

ALA FINANCE CONFERENCE OCTOBER 6, 2017 - CHICAGO Greg Nilsen & Ellen Nendorf – Thomson Reuters

INCREASE TRANSPARENCY

UNDERSTAND WHERE YOUR COUNTERPARTS ARE COMING FROM

– Firms, why are your corporate clients scrutinizing invoices?

• GCs are being asked to do more with less.

• Cost savings directives coming down from the C-Suite

• Executives demanding data to support costs and actions.

– Legal Departments, why are your firms pushing back?

• Being asked to absorb e-billing costs.

• Challenged to prove value.

• Threats to traditional timekeeping, firm management and partnership models.

ALIGN YOUR GOALS

– Get Creative

• Alternative Delivery of Legal Services

– Leverage technology!

• Alternative Fee Arrangements

– It’s more than just fixed fees and rate discounts.

• Be Willing to Work Together

– Partnership builds trust, which builds business.

SCHEDULE CHECK POINTS

– Is the rate fair for the work being done?

– Has anything changed?

When E-Billing Worlds Collide… Product Name

2 Document Version 0.1 Date of issue: 06 October 2017

IMPROVE COMMUNICATION

SET EXPECTATIONS

– Clear and Reasonable

• Aim for a collaborative discussion

• Find room to negotiate to reach a better solution for both firms and legal departments

– Be Proactive

• Don’t wait until issues arise to align expectations

• Look for ways to align expectations across clients

– Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

• Help both parties get on the same page

BROADEN THE KEY PLAYERS

– Expand beyond Lawyer – Lawyer Interaction

• Corporate Legal Departments

– Legal Operation

– Finance

– IT

• Law Firms

– Client Relationship Managers

– Billing / Collections

– IT

SCHEDULE CHECK POINTS

– Yes, this is a duplicate to emphasize its importance.





CODE OF STANDARDS

BILLING GUIDELINES: A MUST HAVE

– Find Alignment Across Clients

– Push for Changes that Make Sense

• Bring data to support the change.

BUILD TRUST

– No one has time to micromanage.

– There are “preferred” firms for a reason.

ONGOING FRUSTRATIONS

YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND THERE ARE SOLUTIONS:

– Use your Network

• Other firms and legal departments are using technology and finding solutions. Ask them how.

– Consult the Experts

• Vendors and consultants are available to help manage and comply with multiple e-billing services, or

improve and standardize billing guidelines.



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1

When E-Billing Worlds Collide…

Who we are…

Greg Nilsen

Thomson ReutersProduct Manager – eBillingHub

Ellen Nendorf

Thomson ReutersSales Consultant – Legal Tracker

2

A Brief History of

E-Billing

An e-billing journey…

2000

2010

LEDES

1998

LEDES

1998B

LEDES

XML

2000LEDES

XML

2.0

LEDES

1998BI

LEDES

XML

2.1

LOC

Today

3

Two views of e-billing…

It’s a

RABBIT!It’s a

DUCK!

The Independent

Traditional View of e-Billing…

General Counsel

✓Standard Invoices

✓Automated Billing

Guideline Checks

✓Better Spend

Control

Law Firms

‒ Need to Support

Multiple Standards

‒ More Write-Offs and

Rejections

‒ More Costly

‒ Slower Payments

4

E-Billing Isn’t Going

Anywhere…

emaze

E-Billing

Pain Points

5

Law Firm e-Billing Issues

1

2

3

Managing & Enforcing Billing Guidelines

Lack of Standard Practices

Actionable Data / Insights

General Counsel

e-Billing Issues

1

2

3

Communication with Law Firms

Billing Guideline Enforcement

Reporting and Data Insight

6

Finding Common

Ground

Increase Transparency

• Understand the Why

– Firms, why are your corporate clients

scrutinizing invoices?

• GCs are being asked to do more with less.

• Cost savings directives coming down from the C-

Suite

• Executives demanding data to support costs and

actions.

hackernoon

7


• Understand the Why

– Legal Departments, why are your firms

pushing back?

• Being asked to absorb e-billing costs.

• Challenged to prove value.

• Threats to traditional timekeeping, firm

management and partnership models.

7Geese


• Align Your Goals

– Get Creative

• Alternative Delivery of Legal Services

– Leverage technology!

• Alternative Fee Arrangements

– It’s more than just fixed fees and rate discounts.

• Be Willing to Work Together

– Partnership builds trust, which builds business.

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

- Warren Buffet

Ari SahagúnLinkedIn

8


• Schedule Check Points



Improve Communication

• Set Expectations

– Clear and Reasonable

• Aim for a collaborative discussion

• Find room to negotiate to reach a better solution

for both firms and legal departments

– Be Proactive

• Don’t wait until issues arise to align expectations

• Look for ways to align expectations across clients

9


• Set Expectations

MAP Communications


• Broaden the Key Players

Expand beyond Lawyer – Lawyer Interaction

Corporate Legal Departments

• Legal Operation

• Finance

• IT

Law Firms

• Client Relationship Managers

• Billing / Collections

• IT

Ryan Estis

10


• Schedule Check Points



“Code of Standards”

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland

11


• Billing Guidelines: A Must

Have

– Find Alignment Across Clients

– Push for Changes that Make

Sense

• Bring data to support the

change.

Amazon


• Build Trust

– No one has time to micromanage.

– There are “preferred” firms for a reason.

12

Ongoing Frustrations

• You are not alone and there are solutions.

– Use your Network

• Other firms and legal departments are using

technology and finding solutions. Ask them how.

– Consult the Experts

• Vendors and consultants are available to help

manage and comply with multiple e-billing

services, or improve and standardize billing

guidelines.

Questions?

Greg Nilsen

• eBillingHub

• [email protected]

• 724-831-5804

Ellen Nendorf, JD

• Legal Tracker

• [email protected]

• 206-719-7174

13

Thank You

Your opinion matters!

Please take a moment now to

evaluate this session.

Thank You!

The Firm reporT Card You Never See

White PaPer

the Firm rePort Card You Never See

This article was written by Mark Arthur and was originally printed in the Fall 2016 issue of Legal Management News.

Years ago, i was staring out at about 100 managing level lawyers in one large, sterile room. my charge was to discuss and inspire greater partnership and innovation between this group of lawyers, representing their respective firms, and my corporate legal department client. i had prepped my slides, planned a few well-timed quips, and remembered to wear matching socks. as i sat waiting for my turn to speak, i perused the day’s agenda. my unwarranted confidence dissipated when i saw the discussion topic i had to immediately follow: Firm evaluations.

This could get dicey.

Now, the critical and open evaluation of well-respected law firms and lawyers, all not yet properly caffeinated, may not be the most nuanced or discreet method to foster cross-functionality; but, the underlying goal was noble and the corporate call for firm collaboration has never been more relevant than today. Corporate legal departments (CLd) are under increased scrutiny to reduce and accurately forecast their spend, better understand their workloads, benchmark their performance, and in many instances, do so with fewer resources. Gathering actionable data to evaluate their outside counsel allows the CLd to tell a management story, demonstrate their value and empower the general counsel to walk confidently into an executive meeting with the same charts, graphs, and data analysis that departments like finance and marketing have offered for years.

This need for tighter controls and a more meaningful evaluation of legal partners coincides with new opportunities to monitor the relationship. CLds cannot only harness technology and software to assess firm work, but they enjoy the benefit of in-house counsel that is more sophisticated than ever, providing the option to keep more work in house. it is at this crossroad of need and opportunity that the firm report card that you may have never seen was born.

CLds measure firm performance differently, but common metrics exist and can be most crudely broken into three categories of evaluation: matter management, spend management, and what i call “gut feel.” in the first bucket, CLds commonly evaluate whether firms are providing timely and accurate matter status updates without the in-house lawyer having to hound the firm for information. Today’s in-house counsel is tasked with managing “their” cases. in-house counsel reliance on the sole and unchecked discretion of outside counsel doesn’t provide the corporation with any internal value add. That same in-house lawyer is also tracking the resolution time and effectiveness of different outside counsel working on similar matters. often times, this assessment is weighted by company exposure and matter complexity.

From a spend management standpoint, many CLds will integrate a spend to budget analysis into their firm report cards to determine which firms have forecasted accurately and which seem to go back to the figurative well too many times. in this case, the firm report card

may count the severity and number of budget overrun instances. Further and related, the savvy CLd will know how accurate accrual projections are once trued up with actual billables, especially if the CLd is tied to a publicly reporting company.

The firm report card will also likely contain an assessment of whether firm rates are reasonable compared to the rest of the market. robust analytics data empowers CLds to compare apples to apples here, looking at rates charged for the same type of work, in the same metro area, for companies in the same industry, and by firms of the same size and relative prestige. peeling back rate evaluation even further, CLds may ask: is my company being billed more partner time than other similarly situated companies? do partners from firm a have the same number of years under their belts as partners at firm B? Which firms are offering alternative fee arrangements, matter specific rates, volume discounts, or quick pay discounts? depending upon the technology or processes employed, each of these questions can be monitored by billing guidelines. CLds are quick to add a report grade for the number of contravened guidelines and invoice audits.

all of this objective data on efficiency, responsiveness, predictive accuracy, effectiveness, and spend management is often coupled with the more subjective “gut feel” of the partnering in-house lawyer. many CLds gather feedback on whether the firm was simply thought of as a good value and a collaborative partner. The ultimate question asked is “Would i hire this firm again?”

The answer to each question above can be reduced to quantifiable scores in a report card, then weighted and finally aggregated into what amounts to the firm’s Gpa. But the most important question is whether these report cards are shared, and if so, whether they are shared at the appropriate time and with a collaborative spirit.

The best partnerships are forged in transparency. if you are unsure whether your corporate client is maintaining a report card, just ask them. and ask what is on it and how well you are stacking up. Your inquiry alone demonstrates a commitment to coalition and a willingness to speak your client’s language. Goal alignment leads to a secure and burgeoning long-term relationship (and sometimes even gets you paid quicker).

For my part, i recommend to all my corporate clients that they share their expectations and appraisals early and consistently with their firms. or for my sake, at the very least, not moments before i have to face them.

mark arthur is a former general counsel turned Corporate Legal department Consultant with Thomson reuters who helps corporate legal departments operate like a business.

To learn more about eBillingHub or for a global list of office locations, visit ebillinghub.com.

© 2017 Thomson reuters S042666uS/1-17

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