General counsel do not always get the right result when their procurement departments buy legal services solely on price, according Mr Gogel. He believes conversations should be about value for money, rather than simply price. The outsourcing specialist said the relationship between law firms and law departments had already been transformed and replaced with far more transparent partnerships that benefit both sides.

Better discussions

However, he believes that pressure from the procurement function 'on the GC to buy outside law firms solely on price, has not always achieved the desired outcome.' And he predicted that going forward there would be ‘more productive discussions focusing on value for money.' He made the comments in the run-up to the GC Futures Summit in London on 9 November and the launch of the Law Department 2015 Survey in association with Integreon.