Clifford Chance has become the first English firm to sign up to Prosperoware’s client value management solution Umbria, which enables firms to create matter plans, budgets, and pricing, and provides partners with a platform to monitor delivery via interactive web-based dashboards and email alerts.
CC, which was looking for an end-to-end pricing and matter management system, selected Umbria after a competitive pitch that began around a couple of quarters ago led by global head of client service solutions, Oliver Campbell.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Prosperoware’s vice president of solutions, Ben Weinberger (pictured) said: “This is a significant win for us because, while we already have numerous global law firm Umbria clients with significant presence in London, this is the first English firm.”
As first wins go, a magic circle giant with around 3,000 lawyers globally is not a bad place to start.
Driven by clients who are increasingly asking how firms will budget their matters and stay within budget, pricing as a sector is slowly taking off in the UK market, which is less mature than in the US. The CC win comes as Prosperoware builds it UK capability, including hiring now general manager EMEA Henry Piatek-Stewart from Thomson Reuters Elite.
This move by CC comes amid a growing realisation among law firms that they need to look at pricing within the context of process improvement. Weinberger said: “There’s lots of talk about ‘innovation’ and ‘AI’, but we’re hearing more from firms that they’re working on client value management initiatives. They’re responding to client demands for predictability.”
He adds: “This is a process improvement project – they were looking for a platform to drive both pricing and matter management. When combined with people and process, Umbria has a proven impact on client value and a firm’s bottom line by reducing write-downs and improving client satisfaction. Firms are now looking beyond simple revenue and instead ensuring that the work they take on is profitable.”
In the US, firms such as Barnes & Thornburg have mature programs for client value management and Weinberger says: “Firms have started to recognise that they can deliver better client service and improve profitability – those things are not mutually exclusive.”
Other Umbria clients include Mayer Brown; K&L Gates; Akin Gump and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
This article first appeared in the March Orange Rag newsletter – to sign up for your free copy click here: http://legaltechnology.com//latest-newsletter/