Strategic Approaches To Reducing Legal Spend Without Compromising Quality

By April Wurster

In today’s economic climate, companies are under increasing pressure to control costs, while still ensuring that legal risks are managed effectively. Whether you are running a lean legal department at a growth-stage startup or overseeing a multi-national legal function, achieving more with less is no longer aspirational: it is often essential.

Controlling outside legal spend can require more than just negotiating lower hourly rates. It may demand a structural rethinking of how outside legal services are sourced, staffed, managed, and measured. This article explores strategic approaches to help achieve such outcomes through a combination of consolidation, thoughtful staffing, disciplined scope control, and performance accountability.

I. Consolidate Legal Work

Consolidating the majority of your legal work with a single firm, or a tightly managed panel of firms, can unlock both pricing leverage and operational efficiency. Done well, consolidation transforms outside counsel from reactive vendors into proactive collaborators.

Unlock volume-based discounts and predictable pricing.

Law firms may be more willing to negotiate favorable pricing or otherwise creatively approach pricing, when they receive consistent, predictable revenue from a client. A consolidated relationship might allow you to:

1. Secure volume-based discounts (e.g. a percentage discount based upon sending increasing levels of work to a firm or set of panel firms). Discounts could increase as new tiers of work are attained.
2. Negotiate favorable pricing or alternative arrangements such as blended rates or fixed pricing for repeatable matters (e.g. employment advice, NDAs, vendor contracts).
3. Negotiate a time-based discount or ability to lock rates for a period of time. Firms may be willing to hold rates for a reasonable period of time.

In effect, you are leveraging your total legal spend as buying power. When a firm understands they will receive the majority of your work, they can often be more motivated to compete on price and invest in the relationship.

Improve efficiency through institutional knowledge.

Over time, a consolidated firm develops deep familiarity with your:

• Internal stakeholders and approval processes
• Business operations and commercial goals
• Regulatory risks and market landscape
• Risk tolerance and prior legal history

This institutional knowledge can significantly reduce ramp-up time, improve accuracy, and allow for reuse of templates, clauses, and strategies. The result often leads to fewer billable hours, faster turnaround, and consistent counsel, without compromising quality.

Enable smarter, tiered staffing models.

A unified firm relationship makes it easier to implement consistent staffing protocols based on matter complexity. Working with a go-to firm can allow you to define a triage framework where:

• Commodity work (e.g., contract reviews, subpoenas) is handled by junior associates or paralegals.
• Moderate-complexity tasks (e.g., employment investigations, regulatory filings) are staffed by mid-level lawyers.
• Strategic or high-risk matters (e.g., bet-the-company litigation, public transactions) receive partner-level oversight.

These strategies can mitigate the risk of overpaying for low-risk work and help align cost with value.

II. Choose the Right People, Not Just the Right Firm

Even within a great firm, cost efficiency often depends on which lawyers do your work. Identifying and aligning with the right lawyers and teams is one of the most overlooked cost-saving opportunities.

Shift from rainmakers to effective hands-on, cost-conscious partners.

Not all lawyers are created (or priced) equally. Rate differences can stem from:

• Office location (e.g., San Francisco vs. Salt Lake City)
• Practice area (e.g., M&A vs. data privacy)
• Seniority and billing tier (e.g., Senior equity partners who bring in clients may be the most expensive billers)

Consider looking for lawyers who:

• Operate in, or delegate to, regional or lower-cost offices
• Are known for practical, hands-on engagement—not just delegation
• Have a reputation for efficient matter management

Ask for the right lawyer, not just a lower rate.

Effective cost control is about selecting professionals who work efficiently, deliver value, and require less supervision. Depending on the matter and the lawyer, a $700/hour lawyer who is responsive and focused may be more cost-effective than a $1,200/hour named partner.

III. Control Scope, Budget, and Expectations

Legal cost overruns can result from poor communication. Investing time with your preferred firm up front can help avoid uncomfortable invoice discussions.

Define scope clearly at the outset of every engagement.

Legal matters should begin with a clearly defined scope of work and a discussion of other issues that may be important to you. What those issues are may depend on the nature of the matter or your goals. Communication with your lawyer can help identify and address those issues. This mitigates “scope creep” and helps ensure that everyone understands expectations upfront.  Look for counsel that actively communicates unanticipated developments during a project so that can be revisited and adjusted if necessary.

Require transparent, granular billing.

Legal invoices should be detailed, easy to review, and aligned with your billing guidelines. Common requirements include:

• Time entries broken down by discrete tasks
• Identification of all timekeepers and their rates
• Explanation of disbursements and expenses (e.g., travel, filing fees)
• Pre-approval for major costs or non-standard work product
• Clarification of vague or ambiguous entries where you cannot tell what work was performed

Benchmark your firm’s performance.

Even with consolidated relationships, you may want to consider periodically benchmarking your firms against peers or prior providers. At a minimum you should consider evaluating:

• Hourly rate trends
• Litigation outcomes or settlement ratios
• Contract turnaround times
• Efficiency and staffing logic

This helps ensure your firms remain competitive, motivated, and committed to delivering value over time.

Final Thoughts: Smarter Legal Spend Is Sustainable Legal Value

Reducing legal spend does not have to require sacrificing quality or taking unnecessary risks. Instead, if done correctly, it can result in building a legal function that is lean, accountable, and aligned with business outcomes. By consolidating work, choosing cost-effective lawyers, managing scope diligently, and holding firms to performance standards, legal departments can reduce costs while maintaining or even improving quality.

*Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the firm or her colleagues.

About The Author:

April Wurster is a partner at Snell & Wilmer in San Diego and focuses her practice on helping clients protect and develop their innovations through intellectual property and technology transactions.