Over the past decade, corporate legal departments have undergone a significant evolution in how they operate. Alongside the rise of legal operations, legal teams are collaborating more closely with their peers in procurement to secure services and technology. While procurement's role in managing legal spend has steadily expanded, many in legal view this partnership as an uneasy one. Despite shared goals to obtain quality services for the organization, legal and procurement often have divergent priorities that can lead to friction.

For legal, finding service providers that can expertly handle complex and rapidly changing needs is paramount. As new regulations, data types, and technologies continuously reshape legal work, they seek partners who can provide specialized expertise and adapt quickly. Simultaneously, procurement teams are under tremendous pressure to reduce costs. Armed with RFP templates that often don't reflect the current state, they are negotiating rates that don't necessarily align with today's requirements, technologies, and workflows.