UK top 50 law firm Pinsent Masons has entered into a reseller agreement with ContractPodAi, under which it will receive a commission for introducing its clients to the contract lifecycle management platform.
While Pinsent Masons is one of the most advanced law firms globally in developing its own tech solutions, head of consulting Mike McGlinchey told Legal IT Insider: “We don’t have a fully-fledged, mature contract lifecycle solution. We have spent a lot of time looking at different platforms and have confidence that we can introduce ContractPodAi to our clients.”
While white-label agreements are not uncommon (under which a law firm offers clients eg document automation built on a third party platform), this kind of reseller arrangement is unusual among law firms. ContractPodAi has similar reseller arrangements with Bowmans in South Africa and Rajah & Tann in South East Asia to help accelerate adoption in those markets.
McGlinchey said: “We didn’t want to make the big leap straight off. White labelling is a big commitment involving hundreds of licenses and we’re not ready for that.”
He added: “The commission arrangement is not our motivation, but to offer a solution that’s right for the client having the confidence in it.”
Pinsent Masons plans to enter other similar relationships and McGlinchey said: “It’s not an exclusive arrangement. We want a stable of suppliers and are looking at other technology as well.” He added: “We will be very up front and that’s the reason we’re keen to have other technology in the stable, so we’re not seen to just recommend one.”
In a statement out today (25 February), McGlinchey said: “As part of our firm’s strategy, we deploy technologies and solutions which work for our clients and address their team’s challenges. With ContractPodAi, we can deliver greater value to our clients by helping them to focus on strategic initiatives by implementing a CLM solution that replaces mundane tasks.”
caroline.hill@legalitlexicon.com