Sonnedix & Brightflag Win Pricing Category at Legal Procurement Awards

The 2021 Legal Procurement Awards, presented by Buying Legal® Council, recently recognized several outstanding industry achievements. Within the Pricing category, Sonnedix was honored for the innovative outside counsel management strategy it has employed in partnership with Brightflag.

How were nominations judged?

Nominations were submitted from organizations around the world and reviewed by a panel of senior legal procurement professionals. A detailed overview of strategic objectives, implementation processes, business results, and financial ROI was required in each nomination. Judges then conducted follow-up interviews to further vet shortlisted finalists.

Within the Pricing category, nominations were judged according to:

• Overall novelty and creativity
• Alignment of buyer and seller interests
• Quality of buyer-seller relationships
• Implementation in everyday operations
• Value realized by buyer’s organization

And it was ultimately Sonnedix, and its unparalleled advancements in value-based pricing, which took home top honors.

What made Sonnedix stand out?

Between July 2020 and June 2021, 93% of the approximately 300 matters Sonnedix instructed to outside counsel featured an alternative fee arrangement. The team also began 93% of its matters with a defined budget and came in at or under the number in 80% of those scenarios.

The net result was a greater than 10% reduction of external legal spend in proportion to overall business growth during the 12-month period.

“To shift from mainly T&M or capped T&M to 93% fixed fees — and doing this all while onboarding a new tech platform — is a massive lift for any legal department,” judges noted in the award announcement. “This is a complete change in philosophy.”

How did Sonnedix do it?

“The transformation would not have been possible without a technology, but our excellent transformation would not have been possible without Brightflag,” explained Sonnedix Legal Operations Manager Heather Torres in her award acceptance.

To learn more about the pivotal roles each partner played, and how they achieved the best outside counsel management, see the full case study below.