Managed services have been the buzz for the past few years, but in our industry, this model has been working successfully for decades. The recent focus has been to streamline processes, workflows and costs to create a more predictable pricing model, but those benefits should be just the start. Working with your third-party provider should benefit the corporate legal department, its outside counsel and the third-party provider by working together and assembling all of the tools to ensure success in defense of ongoing litigation.
Many law firms and corporate legal departments have moved to a managed services agreement (MSA) with a top-tier provider in recent years. The transition came after many who tried bringing software in-house found the maintenance and management a huge burden to the firm and litigation support departments. As David Hancock from GrayRobinson, a prominent Florida law firm, puts it, “The firm benefits from not having to buy, amortize, host, set up an environment, update servers … software upgrades, licensing, training, etc.”
