We’re extremely lucky to have Elouise as a member of PERSUIT’s Strategic Advisory Board. She brings a fresh and often sobering perspective on topics such as where the legal department is in its adoption of procurement best practices.
As Elouise will tell you, the procurement profession is at a seminal moment.
In March 2020, global supply chains experienced major disruptions as workplaces around the world shut down due to the COVID pandemic.
Overnight, companies realized that the art and science of purchasing what they need, when they needed it, would make or break their business.
We were insulated from much of that disruption here in legal — since much of our work transitioned relatively painlessly to an online work environment.
But that doesn’t mean that legal departments can’t benefit from everything procurement professionals learned in the last few years.
The lessons from all that’s happened — including lessons from the COVID-driven supply chain disruptions — can now be applied to any area of the business.
That includes how procurement can help legal deepen relationships with its partner firms.
Here’s another quote from Elouise:
“Historically, procurement has been very cost-focused. But as a profession, procurement is changing, and we are maturing.
“Today, we are much more focused on third-party management, driving innovation, managing risk, and promoting ESG — all through third-party relationships. That’s procurement’s future.
“So if I come to a GC and I say: ‘I can improve your relationships with your law firms through procurement, who wouldn't want that?’”
I love that.
I’ve talked to so many GCs and in-house legal teams who are afraid that involving procurement will simply be an exercise in demanding lower costs from their firms.
That procurement will destroy their firm relationships — not improve them.
And the cold hard truth is that PERSUIT has been successful in part because of that belief.
Why?
Because PERSUIT has been able to deliver on many of the key benefits that were traditionally associated with procurement (e.g. governance, transparency, competition, fairness, etc.) but in a way that was not all about cost reduction.
Rather — in a way that seeks to improve relationships. (If that’s starting to sound like a pitch — trust your instincts!)
It follows that focusing simply on reducing costs is not what procurement should be doing.
Done right, procurement means working on board-level initiatives, including areas such as:
And yes, procurement can help with predicting and managing legal costs as well.
Elouise has much to teach those of us in legal about how to achieve our strategic objectives — lessons that go well beyond how much we spend on outside counsel.
I just republished the podcast episode where I spoke at length with Dr. Epstein about these ideas. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
You can find the episode here on Apple Podcasts — or just search “Innovative Legal Leadership” on your podcast player of choice.
