The Axelrod Firm is a member of NAMWOLF, the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms. NAMWOLF law firms are a study in excellence. Every law firm seeking membership in NAMWOLF must have a minimum of three Fortune 500 companies or their equivalently large major non-profit or governmental counterparts as clients. Each is also rigorously pre-screened for quality — each must receive an AV rating from Martindale Hubble, the highest rating provided by this nationally recognized leader in the legal rating industry — and to ensure that it is certified as woman or minority-owned. On top of that, each firm must receive unqualified praise from a minimum of three clients. There are only 6 woman-owned NAMWOLF member law firms in Pennsylvania.
The NAMWOLF Annual Meeting took place from October 14 to 17, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the Annual Meeting on October 16, 2012, The Axelrod Firm’s Sheryl Axelrod moderated a panel entitled, “Drawing Back The Curtain: Revealing The Law Firm Selection Process Among Corporations With Procurement Teams.”
By way of background, many large corporations used to choose their legal representatives from internal preferred counsel lists. Those lists generally consisted of traditional large law firms. Women and minority-owned law firms did not get the chance to work with the corporations. That is changing and part of the reason it is changing is because of the introduction of procurement specialists in the counsel selection process.
In a study of 100 companies, over 50 from Fortune 1000 companies, and 33 from Fortune 100 companies:
“58 percent … said that the procurement or supply management departments have been involved in the purchasing of legal services for three or more years.”
Silvia Hodges, PhD, “Power of the Purse: How Corporate Procurement is Influencing Law Firm,” LAW PRACTICE TODAY (2012),http://www.americanbar.org/publications/law_practice_today_home/law_practice_today_archive/january12/power-of-the-purse-how-corporate-procurement-is-influencing-law-firm.html.
Corporate procurement specialists are charged with delivering high quality goods and services at a cost that works best for the corporation and its vendors. In the past, procurement teams focused on obtaining fungible goods for their companies such as computers and office equipment. However, procurement specialists are increasingly expanding their work into more complex areas and in some companies, are involved in counsel selection. The panel Sheryl moderated concerned their work in that arena. Procurement teams are helping in-house counsel select the best attorneys for a particular project, by taking cost into account. Now, other factors are also considered in the selection process. According to the panelists Sheryl moderated — Mark E. “Rick” Richardson III, Vice President and Associate General Counsel of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Justin Ergler, Sourcing Group Manager, Legal Services Procurement for GSK, and David Klemm, Director in Global Procurement for Legal, Financial, and Professional Services at Merck & Co, Inc.– corporations are highly selective about inviting law firms to bid on projects. The firms invited to do so must have a depth of experience in the subject matter at issue in the case before them. The attorneys invited to bid must have a reputation for excellence, and they must practice in the jurisdiction in which the case is venued. When their bids are reviewed, how they propose to approach and staff a case — the quality of their proposal, and diversity of their team — is weighed. However, the cost they estimate their work will take is now also being considered.
That gives NAMWOLF member firms a great shot of getting work from large corporations — a shot that in the past, NAMWOLF member firms generally did not have. Most of the founders of NAMWOLF law firms came from traditional large firms. However, NAMWOLF firms generally have far lower overheads than traditional large law firms. Thus, when competing against large law firms, NAMWOLF member firms have a great opportunity to underbid them and get great work. Sheryl moderated the discussion of the opportunity.
The Axelrod Firm thanks Rick, Justin, and David for their outstanding leadership in the field. Thanks to Rick and Justin’s work, GSK has partnered with a number of NAMWOLF firms, and has been a terrific supporter of NAWMOLF, so much so that Rick was awarded NAMWOLF’s coveted Award for Outstanding Service by an Advisory Council Member. Thanks to David’s leadership, Merck has become engaged in NAMWOLF, committing personnel to the Annual Meeting and sponsoring a reception at it to begin to develop relationships with NAMWOLF member law firms. The Axelrod Firm applauds them for their work, and thanks them for the time and attention they gave to preparations for the panel discussion. It was a pleasure working with them.