Social networking has evolved significantly from pressing the flesh at boring seminars and dinner events to the online world of LinkedIn and other such sites, and at LexisNexis we're proud to be a part of that world now. Today marks the launch of Martindale-Hubbell Connected. At Redwood we have always endorsed the idea of business development from within - it's easier, faster, and less expensive to bring in new business from existing clients than to pound the pavement in search of new clients, and given today's economic client, this is even more important. However, the cost effectiveness of online networking can change that equation. The opportunity to connect online in a private, authenticated network with General Counsel and other legal professionals across the globe through existing trusted relationships is one key to the success of business development in a time of budgetary constraints.

Travelling from firm to firm I have heard many stories about risky clients that have been taken on within the recent past.   Some of these clients promised big returns on contingency cases, yet even though the likelihood of success was slim the firms took on that work. Why you may ask? Well, in this down economy where attorneys are starved for hours worked the mere chance that maybe just maybe they could win made them take on the matter.   How did it turn out? Nine times out of ten, just as you would expect. Resources were poured into the case, the firms played with house money and at the end of the day there was absolutely no return.  

As we’re all aware, in today’s economic climate there is a big focus on cost reduction.   It’s no surprise, then, that RFP’s are being used with even greater frequency by purchasers of legal services. The concept is not new, but the extreme focus on price across a large percentage of those companies probably is. For law firms, this is not a happy consequence. Law firms incur significant expense by simply responding to RFP’s, with no guarantee of work at the end of the process. Of course, a primary reason for companies using RFP’s to begin with is to get the lowest price across all parties—which means that the “winner” of the RFP may not be getting profitable work. In an RFP process, it’s not a guarantee that the lowest price will get the business, but it’s nearly certain that “bidders” with pricing substantially above the lowest prices will be eliminated quickly from consideration.