In recent years it has suited the purposes of a number of the UK’s large law firms to declare that in-house legal departments have begun to focus on technology as a means of streamlining their businesses. These firms – generally those that have spent millions of their own money on computer equipment – will often claim that IT-related demands from general counsel are becoming increasingly strident. But owing to an almost complete lack of corroborating evidence, it has always been safe to conclude that such claims are exaggerated, at best, and probably entirely false. Until now.
In the US, Kmart, one of the nation’s largest retailers, recently asked law firms to tender for the coveted role of national counsel. The company’s in-house legal team listed just four major requirements on the ‘request for proposal’ (RFP) document that they sent to the firms. According to reports in the media, the most important of these requirements was that the selected firm must be able to provide matter management through an extranet.
