Editorial
Hello, my name is Rob Mattern, and I am the president of Mattern. Welcome to the Spring Edition of Mattern Matters.
With the pandemic under control (for now!), it is great getting back on the road and meeting with clients and potential clients face to face.
A lot of exciting things are happening at Mattern which I am happy to share with you.
New Approaches to Outsourced Labor
By Ben Schmidt, J.D., PMP Consultant at Mattern
This article originally appeared in the May issue of Law Journal Newsletters Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms
Employees are the lifeblood of an organization. Companies, including law firms, are rightfully attempting to navigate what the past two years have meant to the labor force and make sense of the changes to the landscape so that they can successfully manage their businesses.
Included in this mix are outsourcing service providers. Over the past year, Mattern has had a front seat view to the broad labor issues facing our country writ small in the field of outsourced services for law firms. Service providers have had significant issues attracting, hiring and retaining talent to work for them on-site in law firms. And in turn, law firms have experienced serious issues having foundational functions executed upon, like mail delivery, reprographics work, records, and so on.
Outsourcing Contracts: Top Tips to Avoid Unexpected Increases and 5 Questions to Ask Up Front
At Mattern, part of the services we offer to our clients is to manage their outsourcing contracts once they are implemented. We act as the direct liaison between the firm and the provider, including reviewing addendums and monthly invoices and assisting with the resolution of service issues. Additionally, Mattern provides ongoing analysis and recommendations, including annual headcount and workflow analysis.
Many of our clients say it is the best money they don’t spend since the outsourcing service provider reimburses the firm for all our costs.
Our Strategic Partnership with Research Contract Consultants: Complimentary Legal Research Contract Evaluation and Cost Recovery Analysis
In January of this year, we announced a strategic partnership with Research Contract Consultants, the legal research contract evaluation, negotiation and implementation experts.
With cost recovery for legal research under scrutiny, firms are increasingly absorbing the costs of their legal research platforms allowing recoveries to decline. In 2021, library services experienced the third highest increase in overhead expense in 2021 with a 4.6% YoY increase over 2020 according to Thomson Reuters’ 2022 State of the Legal Market Report.
Top 5 Things Firms Should be Doing in 2022
Office services operations encompass a wide range of back and middle office functions that are key to the efficient and successful operation of the firm. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and changed the day-to-day operations of every firm—and nearly two years in, most firms are operating in a hybrid environment.
What should firms be looking at now? Here are 5 things.
Mattern Helps Burns & Levinson Analyze In-House vs. Outsourced Services. Firm Elects to Continue Outsourcing with Significantly Improved Contract
Headquartered in Boston, Burns & Levinson LLP is a 125-attorney firm in 4 domestic offices. Firm leadership wanted to analyze the value of in-house versus outsourced services so Burns & Levinson could make the right decision to either continue to outsource and improve upon its outsourcing situation or to bring front and back office services in-house. In addition, the firm wished to refresh its MFD fleet.
Burns’ leadership selected Mattern to lead the project.
