The Government's Legal Tender Incenses Law Firms

"Fries with That"?

The Government's Legal Tender Incenses Law Firms

LawFuel - The Law Jobs and News Wire - Law firms remain incensed at the manner in which the Government is tendering its $100 million annual legal work. One senior partner describing it as “so much bullshit it’s unbelievable”.

Writing in the 'National Business Review', columnist John Bowie says that the Government’s two letters to lawyers, the “you’re fired!” version and the “pop in for a chat” version were sent to firms peremptorily culled from the government legal panel and who the government deems potentially fit to share in their legal fees booty.

" If the first lot were shocked to be dumped, as many were, then the winners’ warm glow of self satisfaction quickly dissipated into puce-faced rage when they arrived as summonsed.

" In the opening rounds of the RFP process, firms had been sternly warned to offer their best position from the outset – there would be no second chances – and assured that the process was all about ‘value for money’, not necessarily the cheapest rates.

" In the current round, however, if any firm had committed these to writing they could have left the confetti on the floor as they departed Bowen House. The next stage is an online Dutch auction, seemingly designed to drive down rates.

" All of which has lead to senior lawyers’ raging. As one dryly observed, “some (firms) might feel pressured to drop their rates even further, and be more liberal with the time they record to compensate.”

"The MED procurement process seems to occupy a parallel universe. The Department seem hell-bent on chalking up a big headline saving based on lower charge-outs, which the Minister can add to his Herculean list of accomplishments as National goes to the polls and he heads off to richer, green (gold, actually) pastures with the government’s banker. The result of the process may be to left to successive governments to find themselves locked into a system only to find that it was all a mirage.

"The fact that plenty of firms were for the chopping block, including perhaps a couple of Big Law commercial look-alikes, is probably no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that the beancounters will run the spreadsheets to deliver a big ‘saving’ magically created by slashing and burning law firm chargeout rates.

"The reality is that if a good range of firms remain standing, being the firms who accomplish much the same as their peers with fewer lawyers or less time, the universes may yet converge sufficiently for MED and the current Minister to bask in their headline grabbing chimera whilst government counsel retain just enough good choices to actually start generating sustainable, long term value for government. This would, however, be despite the RFP, not because of it.

"If the old-style widget procurement process sees most of the efficient firms knocked out in favour of the “would you like fries with that?” firms, the next minister might be forgiven for hearing his appointment being accompanied by a poisoned chalice along with the warrant", Bowie writes.

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