Introduction
The mere addressing and answering of legal issues from a subject-matter expertise perspective only, is no longer enough for a lawyer to succeed in a law firm. The same applies when looking at legal departments, i.e.
the head of a legal department and his team, when servicing their internal clients. The legal challenges are not only increasing in number, but are also becoming more international, complex and sophisticated. Thus, to run a law firm and a legal department properly requires not only legal expertise, but the consideration of the economic and operational point of view as well.A company has to approach systematically the questions of how it intends to provide the necessary legal services and how it will make them available. It can either produce the legal services itself (“make”) or acquire them from third parties (“buy”). If a company has decided to hire a third party, i.e. to outsource the work, the questions will arise as to whom such order is being assigned and according to what terms the work is to be completed. Now, as before, external law firms and outside counsel continue to play a significant role in the provision of legal services. As a consequence, the expenditure incurred for this type of service is becoming of greater importance to companies and to the entire economy. Hence, the professional procurement of legal services is inevitable for a customer.
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