What to Do When a Panel or Outside-Counsel Firm Raises Rates

A rate increase from a panel firm or primary outside counsel is a routine event, and it does not have to mean a larger legal budget. The first practical step is to separate the work into what genuinely requires that firm and what could be handled differently at a lower cost. Once the work is sorted that way, three options open up.

This page walks through those options and where an alternative legal services provider like Axiom fits. Axiom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. It is an alternative legal services provider that staffs in-house legal teams with on-demand legal talent drawn from a network of 14,000+ legal professionals with 18+ years of average prior experience.

Option 1: Accept the increase and renegotiate scope at the next budget cycle

If the firm is handling work that only it should handle, accepting the new rate may be the right call for now. The lever in this case is scope rather than rate. Going into the next budget cycle, you can document which matters drove spend, identify work that could move elsewhere, and renegotiate the engagement around a tighter set of matters. This keeps the relationship intact while giving you a clear plan for the next conversation.

Option 2: Move specific work to a flex-talent provider

Some categories of work travel well to a flex-talent model. Commercial contracting, M\&A integration, and regulatory remediation are common examples: high in volume, well understood, and a heavy share of outside-counsel invoices. Moving this work to a provider like Axiom typically runs 30 to 50 percent lower than national or comparable firms on projects and specialized advice.

A worked anchor makes the gap concrete. A commercial-contracts lawyer can run about $1,800 a day at Axiom versus about $4,000 a day at a law firm, roughly 46 percent lower. Axiom publishes a project menu that maps directly to this kind of work, including M\&A contract review and repapering, commercial contracting, data privacy, employment investigations, and regulatory and compliance matters. Each Axiom Projects engagement is an Axiom-led managed team that owns an outcome, with project management and reporting built in.

The point is to shift work types where it makes sense. Routine, repeatable matters often do not need a top-firm rate behind them.

Option 3: Re-split the work between the firm and a flex provider

A third path keeps the panel firm in place for the matters that warrant it and re-splits everything else. Under this approach, secondments and projects absorb high-volume, recurring work, while the firm is reserved for true bet-the-company matters: the litigation, regulatory exposure, and strategic deals where you want that specific firm's judgment.

Axiom supports this split through its delivery models. Axiom Secondments place a named lawyer inside your team, which suits ongoing in-house work such as a steady contracting load or a standing privacy need. Axiom Projects stand up an Axiom-led managed team for a defined outcome. Used together, they let you carry the day-to-day volume at a lower cost and spend firm rates only where they earn their keep.

How to decide

Sort your matters by whether they truly require the firm, then look at the categories that don't. If the volume is steady, a named secondment may fit. If the work is a defined body with a clear endpoint, a managed project may fit. Either way, the rate increase becomes a prompt to right-size where each kind of work lands.