{"id":138571,"date":"2025-12-08T16:47:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T00:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/08\/stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-how-basha-rubin-says-legal-can-turn-vendor-selection-into-a-strategic-asset\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T00:47:17","slug":"stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-how-basha-rubin-says-legal-can-turn-vendor-selection-into-a-strategic-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/08\/stop-outsourcing-by-instinct-how-basha-rubin-says-legal-can-turn-vendor-selection-into-a-strategic-asset\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Outsourcing By Instinct: How Basha Rubin Says Legal Can Turn Vendor Selection Into A Strategic Asset"},"content":{"rendered":"

In-house legal teams spend tens, sometimes hundreds, of millions annually on outside counsel. And yet, far too often, the selection process is still driven by gut instinct, legacy relationships, or a colleague\u2019s quick recommendation. In the latest episode of \u201cNotes to My (Legal) Self,\u201d I sat down with Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Priori, to explore what happens when legal departments replace instinct with data and how marketplaces are redefining outside counsel management for modern teams.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Look At Your Spend. Then Ask Better Questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe average Fortune 500 company spends between $100 to $150 million a year on outside counsel,\u201d Rubin told me. \u201cBut much of that is still being allocated without a structured framework for risk or complexity.\u201d If that sounds familiar, it\u2019s because many legal departments still lack the muscle memory or the mandate to challenge their own assumptions about who they work with and why.<\/p>\n

Rubin\u2019s team often runs a simple but revealing exercise with new clients: they ask legal departments to map their outside counsel engagements on a basic risk-complexity matrix. \u201cWe literally create a 3\u00d73: high, medium, and low risk versus high, medium, and low complexity,\u201d she explained. Then they categorize all legal projects from the past year, flag who handled them, and compare that against spend.<\/p>\n

The results almost always tell a story. A large portion of work that ends up at Biglaw could, and arguably should, be handled by more targeted providers. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean high-risk work should leave,\u201d Rubin clarified. \u201cBig firms are best at that. But there is an overwhelming amount of medium-risk, medium-complexity work that can be done faster and more cost-effectively by others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gut Feelings Are Not Defensible Decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine a litigation matter lands on your desk. It\u2019s medium-risk, in a familiar jurisdiction, with a limited budget. Your next move should be grounded in data: who has handled this issue before? What were the outcomes? Who performed best on metrics that matter: speed, clarity, predictability, client satisfaction?<\/p>\n

Instead, many in-house teams default to the familiar. \u201cIt\u2019s often based on who you went to law school with,\u201d Rubin noted. Or maybe someone sends an email around the department asking for referrals. In the absence of a structured system, it\u2019s no surprise that legal teams lean on intuition. But that\u2019s not a strategy. And in today\u2019s environment, it\u2019s not defensible.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegal is no longer immune from a procurement-style mindset,\u201d Rubin said. She\u2019s not wrong. Whether or not you like that trend, it\u2019s here. Boards expect defensible spend. CFOs want transparency. CEOs want business-aligned legal departments. That starts with showing your outside counsel decisions aren\u2019t just reasonable; they\u2019re repeatable.<\/p>\n

Design for Repeatability, Not Just Reputation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rubin and her team at Priori are pushing the industry toward repeatable, data-driven outside counsel selection. They pull from both public and private sources to create a searchable database of lawyer experience across firms and jurisdictions. That includes litigation history, expertise tags, diversity initiatives, and internal reviews from past engagements. \u201cYou can search across thousands of attorneys to identify the 12 who are best suited for that particular matter,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

That may sound like a luxury reserved for massive legal departments, but Rubin argues it\u2019s becoming a necessity. \u201cIn-house teams are under enormous pressure to do more with less,\u201d she said. \u201cVendor selection is one of the highest-leverage points in the department. If you do it well, everything downstream gets better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best teams aren\u2019t just collecting data. They\u2019re building systems. They have frameworks for when to run RFPs. They create scorecards for reviewing vendors after each engagement. They loop in legal ops early. They tie spend to performance, not just outcomes. And perhaps most importantly, they treat outside counsel like part of the business, not a one-time transaction.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Just Save Money. Gain Leverage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legal department is often seen as a cost center. But that perception changes quickly when you show how strategic vendor selection can create cost predictability, improve turnaround time, and deliver higher satisfaction to internal clients.<\/p>\n

This is not about cutting corners. It\u2019s about making better, more deliberate choices. \u201cFlexible resourcing is no longer just a stopgap,\u201d Rubin emphasized. \u201cMore and more teams are using it as a long-term strategy.\u201d The smartest in-house leaders are building core teams that stay close to the business and complementing them with external resources that flex based on workload, jurisdiction, or subject-matter expertise.<\/p>\n

If that sounds familiar, it should. That\u2019s how product teams scale. That\u2019s how procurement works. That\u2019s how operations functions across the business. Legal doesn\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel. It just has to learn how to drive it.<\/p>\n

What To Do Next<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an in-house leader, take a hard look at how your team chooses outside counsel. Start tracking the data. Build a risk-complexity matrix for your past 12 months of matters. Review where you spent the most, and what you actually got for it. Then build the next cycle with intentionality.<\/p>\n

Legacy relationships aren\u2019t a reason to avoid change. They\u2019re an opportunity to do better.<\/p>\n

As Rubin put it, \u201cWe\u2019re building the infrastructure for defensible legal decisions. The question is: will legal departments use it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now is the time to stop outsourcing by instinct. Use the data. Design the system. And make vendor selection the strategic advantage it was always meant to be.<\/p>\n

\n

Olga V. Mack<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is the CEO of\u00a0TermScout<\/a>, an AI-powered contract certification platform that accelerates revenue and eliminates friction by certifying contracts as fair, balanced, and market-ready. A serial CEO and legal tech executive, she previously led a company through a successful acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga is also a\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and the Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. She is a visionary executive reshaping how we law\u2014how legal systems are built, experienced, and trusted. Olga\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>teaches at Berkeley Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, lectures widely, and advises companies of all sizes, as well as boards and institutions. An award-winning general counsel turned builder, she also leads early-stage ventures including\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Virtual Gabby (Better Parenting Plan)<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Product Law Hub<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>ESI Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Notes to My (Legal) Self<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, each rethinking the practice and business of law through technology, data, and human-centered design. She has authored\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Rise of Product Lawyers<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Blockchain Value<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Get on Board<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, with\u00a0Visual IQ for Lawyers\u00a0(ABA) forthcoming. Olga is a 6x TEDx speaker and has been recognized as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence and an ABA Woman in Legal Tech. Her work reimagines people\u2019s relationship with law\u2014making it more accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world actually works. She is also the host of the Notes to My (Legal) Self podcast (streaming on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Spotify<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Apple Podcasts<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>YouTube<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), and her insights regularly appear in Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Law. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley. Follow her on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and X @olgavmack.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Stop Outsourcing By Instinct: How Basha Rubin Says Legal Can Turn Vendor Selection Into A Strategic Asset<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In-house legal teams spend tens, sometimes hundreds, of millions annually on outside counsel. And yet, far too often, the selection process is still driven by gut instinct, legacy relationships, or a colleague\u2019s quick recommendation. In the latest episode of \u201cNotes to My (Legal) Self,\u201d I sat down with Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Priori, to explore what happens when legal departments replace instinct with data and how marketplaces are redefining outside counsel management for modern teams.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Look At Your Spend. Then Ask Better Questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe average Fortune 500 company spends between $100 to $150 million a year on outside counsel,\u201d Rubin told me. \u201cBut much of that is still being allocated without a structured framework for risk or complexity.\u201d If that sounds familiar, it\u2019s because many legal departments still lack the muscle memory or the mandate to challenge their own assumptions about who they work with and why.<\/p>\n

Rubin\u2019s team often runs a simple but revealing exercise with new clients: they ask legal departments to map their outside counsel engagements on a basic risk-complexity matrix. \u201cWe literally create a 3\u00d73: high, medium, and low risk versus high, medium, and low complexity,\u201d she explained. Then they categorize all legal projects from the past year, flag who handled them, and compare that against spend.<\/p>\n

The results almost always tell a story. A large portion of work that ends up at Biglaw could, and arguably should, be handled by more targeted providers. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean high-risk work should leave,\u201d Rubin clarified. \u201cBig firms are best at that. But there is an overwhelming amount of medium-risk, medium-complexity work that can be done faster and more cost-effectively by others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gut Feelings Are Not Defensible Decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine a litigation matter lands on your desk. It\u2019s medium-risk, in a familiar jurisdiction, with a limited budget. Your next move should be grounded in data: who has handled this issue before? What were the outcomes? Who performed best on metrics that matter: speed, clarity, predictability, client satisfaction?<\/p>\n

Instead, many in-house teams default to the familiar. \u201cIt\u2019s often based on who you went to law school with,\u201d Rubin noted. Or maybe someone sends an email around the department asking for referrals. In the absence of a structured system, it\u2019s no surprise that legal teams lean on intuition. But that\u2019s not a strategy. And in today\u2019s environment, it\u2019s not defensible.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegal is no longer immune from a procurement-style mindset,\u201d Rubin said. She\u2019s not wrong. Whether or not you like that trend, it\u2019s here. Boards expect defensible spend. CFOs want transparency. CEOs want business-aligned legal departments. That starts with showing your outside counsel decisions aren\u2019t just reasonable; they\u2019re repeatable.<\/p>\n

Design for Repeatability, Not Just Reputation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rubin and her team at Priori are pushing the industry toward repeatable, data-driven outside counsel selection. They pull from both public and private sources to create a searchable database of lawyer experience across firms and jurisdictions. That includes litigation history, expertise tags, diversity initiatives, and internal reviews from past engagements. \u201cYou can search across thousands of attorneys to identify the 12 who are best suited for that particular matter,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

That may sound like a luxury reserved for massive legal departments, but Rubin argues it\u2019s becoming a necessity. \u201cIn-house teams are under enormous pressure to do more with less,\u201d she said. \u201cVendor selection is one of the highest-leverage points in the department. If you do it well, everything downstream gets better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best teams aren\u2019t just collecting data. They\u2019re building systems. They have frameworks for when to run RFPs. They create scorecards for reviewing vendors after each engagement. They loop in legal ops early. They tie spend to performance, not just outcomes. And perhaps most importantly, they treat outside counsel like part of the business, not a one-time transaction.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Just Save Money. Gain Leverage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legal department is often seen as a cost center. But that perception changes quickly when you show how strategic vendor selection can create cost predictability, improve turnaround time, and deliver higher satisfaction to internal clients.<\/p>\n

This is not about cutting corners. It\u2019s about making better, more deliberate choices. \u201cFlexible resourcing is no longer just a stopgap,\u201d Rubin emphasized. \u201cMore and more teams are using it as a long-term strategy.\u201d The smartest in-house leaders are building core teams that stay close to the business and complementing them with external resources that flex based on workload, jurisdiction, or subject-matter expertise.<\/p>\n

If that sounds familiar, it should. That\u2019s how product teams scale. That\u2019s how procurement works. That\u2019s how operations functions across the business. Legal doesn\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel. It just has to learn how to drive it.<\/p>\n

What To Do Next<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an in-house leader, take a hard look at how your team chooses outside counsel. Start tracking the data. Build a risk-complexity matrix for your past 12 months of matters. Review where you spent the most, and what you actually got for it. Then build the next cycle with intentionality.<\/p>\n

Legacy relationships aren\u2019t a reason to avoid change. They\u2019re an opportunity to do better.<\/p>\n

As Rubin put it, \u201cWe\u2019re building the infrastructure for defensible legal decisions. The question is: will legal departments use it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now is the time to stop outsourcing by instinct. Use the data. Design the system. And make vendor selection the strategic advantage it was always meant to be.<\/p>\n

\n

Olga V. Mack<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is the CEO of\u00a0TermScout<\/a>, an AI-powered contract certification platform that accelerates revenue and eliminates friction by certifying contracts as fair, balanced, and market-ready. A serial CEO and legal tech executive, she previously led a company through a successful acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga is also a\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and the Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. She is a visionary executive reshaping how we law\u2014how legal systems are built, experienced, and trusted. Olga\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>teaches at Berkeley Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, lectures widely, and advises companies of all sizes, as well as boards and institutions. An award-winning general counsel turned builder, she also leads early-stage ventures including\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Virtual Gabby (Better Parenting Plan)<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Product Law Hub<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>ESI Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Notes to My (Legal) Self<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, each rethinking the practice and business of law through technology, data, and human-centered design. She has authored\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Rise of Product Lawyers<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Blockchain Value<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Get on Board<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, with\u00a0Visual IQ for Lawyers\u00a0(ABA) forthcoming. Olga is a 6x TEDx speaker and has been recognized as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence and an ABA Woman in Legal Tech. Her work reimagines people\u2019s relationship with law\u2014making it more accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world actually works. She is also the host of the Notes to My (Legal) Self podcast (streaming on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Spotify<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Apple Podcasts<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>YouTube<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), and her insights regularly appear in Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Law. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley. Follow her on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and X @olgavmack.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Stop Outsourcing By Instinct: How Basha Rubin Says Legal Can Turn Vendor Selection Into A Strategic Asset<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In-house legal teams spend tens, sometimes hundreds, of millions annually on outside counsel. And yet, far too often, the selection process is still driven by gut instinct, legacy relationships, or a colleague\u2019s quick recommendation. In the latest episode of \u201cNotes to My (Legal) Self,\u201d I sat down with Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Priori, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}