Legal procurement professionals are increasingly engaged in outside counsel and service provider selections, a Wednesday-released report from Buying Legal Council found, but their relationship with in-house counsel isn’t yet perfect.

More than half of 103 respondents to legal procurement organization Buying Legal Council’s 2019 Market Intelligence Report said they had at least some influence over their companies’ legal service selection. An additional 40% said they “influenced the purchases of all legal services,” up from less than 10% of respondents in Buying Legal Council’s inaugural annual report, according to executive director Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein.