Legal Cost Recovery Remains Strong in a Client-Centric Market – All It Takes is Strategy

Legal Cost Recovery Remains Strong in a Client-Centric Market – All It Takes is Strategy 2020-07-22T17:40:44+00:00

In the past ten years, recovery for charges actually billed to the client have only decreased by 5%.  What has substantially declined in the past ten years’ is attorneys’ willingness to charge clients for soft costs.  We know this because internal write-offs was the area of largest increase---growing by almost 20% just last year alone. 

If your recoveries are declining or you aren’t recovering at all– it is more likely a problem of policy and charge back model than clients’
willingness to pay. 

That’s where the cost recovery experts at Mattern can help.

Mattern is the undisputed leader and expert in cost recovery in the legal industry.  Since 2004, we have produced the most valuable data of cost recovery practices to help firms benchmark and create a strategy that works.

The Mattern Cost Recovery Survey is an indispensable planning and budgeting tool for law firms. Click to learn more and request an overview copy of the 2018 results.

What Mattern’s decades of data and expertise show is that the traditional soft cost recovery model continues to be the dominant model in the marketplace, but hard costs are the most effective way to recover costs with net realization remaining in the mid 80% range.  

When it comes to your firm’s recovery strategy, there are a lot of questions—but one basic place to start: put aside what you think you know, and perform a data-driven assessment.

Our Process: 

A cost recovery consulting engagement with Mattern is focused, extensive, detailed, and data driven. We analyze your existing cost recovery rates and processes, compare them to industry and peer benchmarks and best practices, and recommend a strategy that will bring about significant improvement. The scope of our investigation includes:

  • Copies and prints, both color and b/w
  • Scans
  • Digital services
  • Legal research
  • Overnight shipping & postage
  • Litigation support / e-Discovery services

What Do We Deliver To You?

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    A current-state assessment documenting cost recovery processes, average costs, and the average dollar recovery for specific services, including quantified rates, billable and non-billable activity, exception editing, and collections
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    Expense recovery per service area benchmarked against the industry and firm-selected peers
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    Identified areas of cost recovery “leakage”
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    Five-year projections of cost recovery revenue
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    An evaluation and recommendations for cost recovery system hardware
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    A Mattern-managed request for proposal (RFP) and evaluation of options for a cost recovery system if necessary
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    Additional cost recovery opportunities and alternate cost recovery methodologies


Want to learn more? Check out these recent case studies and blog posts:

Am Law 200 Firm Gains Competitive Advantage and Charge Back Model to Recoup Costs for eDiscovery Managed Services

Mattern Assists an Am Law 200 Firm Create New Cost Recovery Model to Recoup Charges for Litigation Support Solution

Cost Recovery is Dead–Unless It’s Not. How Will Your Firm Decide Strategy?


Is it the Write-offs or is it the Clients Causing Decline in Recoveries

What Do Legal Research Cost Recovery and Scans Have in Common?

5 Ways to Improve Cost Recovery for Your Law Firm

How Can We Help Your Firm With Cost Recovery?