Lawcadia, an Australian legal tech startup, and US-based trade organisation the Buying Legal Council, today announced a formal collaboration to promote legal procurement in the Asia-Pacific region and support professionals tasked with the buying of legal services.
The purpose of the collaboration is to continue to build a local Asia-Pacific community to support legal procurement professionals and other in-house professionals interested in legal procurement, such as legal operations and in-house counsel, through advocacy, networking, research, and information dissemination.
The partnership between the Buying Legal Council and Lawcadia means that the Buying Legal Council can effectively develop and deliver programs and services that provide high-quality education to legal procurement and operations professionals in the Asia-Pacific region, just as it does in other regions across the globe.
Whilst education and networking for in-house or client-side professionals is the main focus of the collaboration, it also involves working to increase the visibility and credibility of legal procurement and the Buying Legal Council through effective networking, partnering, and communications with stakeholders in the legal profession.
The relatively new area of legal procurement is growing in importance in this region as organisations in both the public and private sectors are demanding more value for their legal spend. They want improved pricing and service delivery from law firms, however, the legal industry is slow in responding to these demands.
In addition to this overall drive for greater value and service delivery, sophisticated users of legal services, such as General Counsels, are frustrated at the lack of transparency, accountability and visibility over their external legal spend. Current procurement practices such as setting up panels, alternative fee arrangements, tenders and Request for Proposals (RFPs), simply are not working to deliver the level of value, transparency and objectivity that is required.
“I am very excited about our collaboration with Lawcadia and extending the Buying Legal Council into the Asia-Pacific region,” said Dr Silvia Hodges Silverstein, Executive Director of the Buying Legal Council.
“Legal procurement is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in large organisations in Europe and North America and I see this trend also happening in Asia-Pacific. The legal industry is changing quickly and professionals tasked with buying and managing legal services will be key drivers of this change. The Buying Legal Council, together with Lawcadia, will work to support and educate these professionals through research, advocacy, networking and communication,” said Dr Hodges Silverstein.
“Dr Silvia Hodges Silverstein is the world’s leading expert on the topic of legal procurement and along with the Buying Legal Council, has developed the knowledge, research and community of like-minded professionals across the world,” says Warwick Walsh, CEO and Founder at Lawcadia.
“I have found that there is a small tight-knit community of people interested and passionate about legal procurement and improving legal operations, and I am really excited about partnering with the Buying Legal Council in Asia-Pacific,” says Warwick Walsh.
The focus of legal procurement is to make the buying of legal services more transparent and aims to help the legal department to make objective, data-based decisions that deliver value to their organisation. This collaboration will spread the message of legal procurement and positively influence the legal industry in the Asia-Pacific region.
The flagship event for the collaboration will be the Legal Procurement Forum, to be held in Sydney later in the year. This follows on from the success of the 2016 Legal Procurement Forums, which were the first events on which Lawcadia and the Buying Legal Council collaborated.
About the Buying Legal Council
The Buying Legal Council is the trade organisation supporting professionals tasked with sourcing legal services and managing legal services supplier relationships through advocacy, networking, education, research, and information. As a membership organisation, their mission is to advance the field of how legal services are bought. They aim to enhance the value and performance of those buying legal services and their organisations, share intelligence on sourcing legal services and managing supplier relationships, as well as document and promote best practices.
Find out more about the Buying Legal Council at www.buyinglegal.com.
About Lawcadia
A successful Australian startup, Lawcadia is the only legal procurement platform that helps companies and government organisations to manage all aspects of legal procurement. The web-based platform delivers cost savings, transparency and efficiency with simple procurement and management solutions that incorporate legal panel management, RFPs, scope control, analytics and reporting.
Find out more about Lawcadia at www.lawcadia.com
