A range of tools departments might draw on for a bidding process. This article offers more tools than any law department would likely use for selecting outside counsel through an RFP process, but it gives a framework for what your procurement department might have available to help you. It describes seven kinds of software tools for competitive bids. Click here for the full text from Cobblestone Software's Joshua Hansen.

Collect information to make the case for contracting improvements. If you are looking to bolster your arguments as to funding for a contract management system, this article describes several avenues. 'Three ways to secure stakeholder buy-in for a CLM system:

1. Gather data on contract failures: [One person cited in the article] accomplished this by adding any unwanted renewals or contract management issues in a folder in her email inbox. Then she presented on the failures.

2. Document the workflow and process: note the time each step takes and where the process typically breaks down. You may be surprised how difficult it is to define a clear process.

3. Gather feedback or survey other business users: the more data you can gather about the time required, delays, or contract management issues, the better case you can make for stakeholders.' Click here for the full text from Agiloft's Jeffrey Miesbauer.

Data from surveys on the inefficiencies of old software. While covering a broader scope than just law departments, this piece makes a point that pertains to them. 'A survey of chief information officers (CIOs) showed they spent 40-60% of their time just managing legacy IT Worldwide, 75% of employees think workplace technology is unnecessarily complicated. What's worse = more than one-third of those employees feel that legacy technology makes their job harder.' Click here for the full text from SimpleLegal's Lauren Lee.

Look for law firms that are willing to institute AFAs. This article lays out seven characteristics of law firms that law departments should attend to relative to the firm's receptivity to AFAs. 'While the popularity of alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) seemed to have plateaued in recent years - at least in terms of AFAs as a percentage of law firm revenue - that does not mean that all, or even most law firms have stood still when it comes to innovating around how their work is priced.' Click here for the full text from the Legal Executive Institute's Bill Josten.

A patent for a bill-review process. We wonder what is 'novel' about the patented process, given how long in-house counsel have been reviewing invoices of law firms, since novelty is a prerequisite for patentability. 'Wolters Kluwer's LegalVIEW@ BillAnalyzer, our now patented AI technology, harnesses the world's largest repository of legal spend data to help our customers improve legal operations and save money.' Click here for the full text from Corporate Counsel Business Journal.

Fifty law firms exceeded $1B in revenue. These firms are very large, very prestigious, very good and also very expensive. Caveat emptor. '[T]he Global 100's gross revenue grew by 4.7 percent, bringing the collective earnings of these firms up to $119.6 billion when Biglaw is up by $5.4 billion, there's not much room for complaints. The United States continues to dominate the list, and this time around, 50 firms had more than $1 billion in revenue.' Click here for the full text from General Counsel News.