Case study
FMC Technologies: driving efficiency up and costs down with Legal Tracker
FMC Technologies monitors performance, controls spending and shares valuable insights with Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker.
FMC Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of technology solutions for the energy industry and other industrial markets. Named by FORTUNE magazine as America’s Most Admired Oil and
Gas Equipment, Service Company in 2008, FMC Technologies employs approximately 10,000 people and operates 23 manufacturing facilities in 19 countries.
The challenge
When millions of dollars in legal fees are at stake, one award-winning system deserves another. FMC Technologies, Inc. relies on its proprietary Alliance Counsel Engagement System™ (ACES), an innovative risk-reward fee structure, to compensate law firms based on actual performance. When considering legal management systems, FMC required enterprise-level features to support the company’s global reach, as well as the flexibility to integrate seamlessly with its award-winning ACES system.
After a seven-month evaluation by an independent consultant, Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker™ – the highest-rated system by both corporate counsel and law firms in independent surveys – emerged as FMC’s clear choice.
The solution
Tracker dovetails perfectly with ACES because it allows FMC to implement and enforce policies to measure law firm performance and promote continuous improvement.
With Tracker, FMC requires budgets and status reports from firms, and FMC completes mandatory law firm evaluations and lessons learned when closing each matter. After creating this essential knowledge base of firm performance data, Tracker’s reporting features enable FMC to pinpoint the most efficient firms, compensate them accordingly, and retain them for similar matters.
Plus, with Tracker, FMC can provide specific feedback to firms – driving efficiency up and costs down. Tracker has helped FMC reduce their ratio of legal spending to revenue by approximately 40% over the last six years.
The legal tracker advantage
For corporations needing to show greater accountability for legal spending, Tracker can help you boost outside counsel performance and efficiency. For example, if a company requires budgets and status reports of a firm, no invoices can be submitted until the firm complies. Likewise, once a case is resolved, company users can be required to provide law firm evaluations and lessons learned/after action assessments. Built-in reports enable companies to compare average duration, fees/expenses, and results to objectively assess outside counsel.
Regardless of your company’s size, industry, or legal budget, Legal Tracker can help you make better-informed decisions and optimize your legal spending.
Legal Tracker is a robust matter management, e-billing, reporting, and analytics solution that maximizes your legal department’s efficiency and value