Reviewing Your Law Firm Panel: A Strategic Approach

Sinead Kenny of Brightflag says that strategically managing your law firm panel is crucial for optimizing legal services and controlling costs in-house. Regular reviews help identify firms that are top performers and highlight opportunities for better alignment with the department’s evolving legal needs.

Law firm panel reviews offer far more than administrative oversight. They enable legal departments to consolidate work, benchmark rates, elevate quality, and streamline engagements. Without such reviews, firm alignment, service delivery, and cost control inefficiencies may go undetected. 

The first step in a panel review is assembling a cross-functional team with clear objectives, whether the focus is on reducing spend, improving service, or enhancing alignment with business strategy. The objectives guide the process. It begins with a comprehensive evaluation of your current panel using e-billing and matter management tools. These tools uncover trends in spending, redundancy across firms, cost analysis, performance, and service quality through post-matter surveys and analytics.

If you plan to add or replace firms, a request for proposal is key. Make sure to clearly define expectations and response requirements. Alignment with outside counsel guidelines, rate increase policies, billing practices, and diversity goals will ensure a more effective firm selection. Evaluating RFP submissions will require balancing quantitative data—rates, discounts, and staffing structure—and qualitative data like client service, innovation, and cultural fit.

Once selected, your law firm panel must be continuously monitored. Tracking compliance with rates, performance, and post-matter feedback ensures that standards remain high. Ongoing management includes regular business reviews, scorecard assessments, and accountability around diversity and innovation. Solely assigning matters to panel firms reinforces consistent engagement with approved providers and strengthens long-term relationships.