Grubhub's Legal Department Adopts Strategic Pricing to Enhance Efficiency

What's Happening?

Grubhub's legal department is exploring innovative pricing models to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in high-stakes legal work. In a recent episode of the UpLevel View podcast, Grubhub's Katie Armistead discussed the shift from traditional hourly billing to value-based billing. This approach involves phase-based fees and risk-sharing, which aim to bring more predictability and transparency to legal expenses. The discussion highlighted how early conversations about budgets and invoices can change the dynamics of legal matters, making them more manageable for corporate law departments. Additionally, the podcast emphasized the benefits of partnering with procurement teams, which have evolved alongside legal teams to better support in-house operations.

Why It's Important?

The shift towards value-based billing in legal departments like Grubhub's reflects a broader trend in the legal industry to move away from the traditional hourly billing model. This change is significant as it can lead to more predictable legal costs and better alignment of legal services with business objectives. For companies, this means potentially lower legal expenses and more strategic use of legal resources. The adoption of such models can also foster stronger relationships between legal teams and procurement departments, enhancing overall operational efficiency. As more companies consider similar approaches, this could lead to a significant transformation in how legal services are priced and delivered across various industries.

What's Next?

As Grubhub and other companies continue to implement value-based billing, it is likely that more legal departments will explore similar models. This could prompt a reevaluation of traditional billing practices across the legal industry. Companies may also invest in training and technology to support these new pricing strategies, further integrating legal services with business operations. Stakeholders, including legal professionals and corporate leaders, will need to adapt to these changes, potentially leading to new standards and best practices in legal billing.