Sunbelt Blog

Outsourcing Legal Services: Set Yourself Up For Success

Earlier, we discussed some of the common pitfalls of outsourcing offshore transcription services and how to overcome many of the obstacles both here and abroad. If you plan on outsourcing any of your legal services, it's smart to do so with a plan. Not only should you do your homework and select a capable company, you should also have your own standard master service agreement, communicate with the decision makers throughout the negotiations, and understand your approval process.

Draft Your Own Master Service Agreements

As a legal professional, you have the skills and expertise needed to draft your own master service agreement. Doing so provides you with the terms and conditions you expect and ensures that you are not left to the mercy of "but this is how we always do it." This doesn't necessarily mean that your master service agreement is the one and only agreement, but it does provide you with a good starting point from which to build. Taking your stock agreement and the outsourcing company's agreement, you can then work together to create a document that is mutually satisfying.

Communicate with Decision Makers

What's more frustrating than getting through a difficult negotiation or meeting only to hear, "I'll see what my boss has to say and get back to you with an answer"? Realizing that this situation is completely avoidable. Long before you enter into a negotiation, find out if the person you are dealing with has any authority to make decisions and to what extent that authority extends. Ask questions such as:
• Are you the key decision maker?
• Do you have the authority to make decisions about ____?
• Who in your company must make the final decision?
• Do you need to run any decision by anyone else in your company? If so, who?
• Is a committee involved in making these types of decisions?

Once you understand who the decision makers are, try to work directly with those people. Doing so saves time and minimizes miscommunication. This isn't always possible such as when decisions must be run past an approval committee. When this is the case, you'll want to work with a senior person, preferably one who sits on the committee.

Understand Your Own Approval Process

Not only must you understand the other side's approval process and know who their decision makers are, you must also understand your own approval process. Are you the key decision maker or must you also run your decision by your boss or an approval committee. If you must obtain approval to make decisions, find out which decisions can be made without approval and which must be submitted to others. Find out acceptable ranges and understand at which point you must defer to higher ups. It's helpful to meet with internal decision makers before a negotiation to go over objectives, expectations, positions, and reserve prices. Knowing when to walk away from a negotiation or when the committee needs to be involved is crucial. Ideally, the fewer people involved in the approval process, the better. If you can limit the size of an approval committee, consider doing so.

If you are the sole decision maker, you must also understand your process. What do are your objectives? What is your bottom line? When should you walk away? What are you willing to accept? What are you willing to give up? Take time beforehand for planning.

Starting with your own master service agreement, meeting with decision makers, and understanding your approval process are three smart steps you can take to ensure outsourcing legal services success.