What could this look like at your firm?

OPPORTUNITY
An AmLaw 100 international firm with over 1,000 attorneys and headquartered in the northwest, engaged Mattern to evaluate its off-site records storage program and renegotiate its existing agreement. The firm’s objectives were clear: reduce overall costs, improve contractual terms, and address rising destruction expenses while introducing more flexibility into the agreement.

With more than 128,000 cubic feet of stored records across multiple offices, even small inequities in pricing and terms created meaningful financial impact. The existing contract also included minimum charges, limited destruction provisions, and costly termination fees which were substantially increased unknowingly to this client, in one of their annual Schedule As.

PROCESS
Mattern applied its structured approach to benchmarking, negotiation, and contract improvement:
- Benchmarking & Cost Analysis: We analyzed storage volumes and activity across all locations, comparing current costs against Mattern Method® benchmarks. This identified a 10% projected savings opportunity and highlighted specific markets with the greatest optimization potential.
- Targeted Negotiation Strategy: Rather than pursuing a broad RFP, we executed a focused renewal negotiation with the incumbent provider. In our experience, this approach often yields strong results when paired with credible benchmark data and clear leverage points.
- Contract Restructuring: We worked with the provider to eliminate restrictive terms and introduce meaningful financial improvements, including: removal of minimum monthly storage and service charges, addition of a significant destruction allowance, reduction in annual service escalators, and dramatic reduction in termination-related fees
- Financial Modeling: We validated savings across a 10-year term, ensuring all pricing, incentives, and operational impacts were reflected in a true total cost of ownership.

RESULT
The firm executed a new 10-year agreement that delivered both immediate and long-term value:
- Over $325,000 in total projected savings
- $75,000 destruction allowance to offset ongoing disposition costs
- Elimination of minimum charges, improving cost alignment with actual usage
- Termination costs reduced by up to 75%
- Improved annual escalators, reducing long-term cost growth
- Enhanced operational flexibility, including clearer terms and performance standards

Just as important, the firm is now positioned to actively manage and realize these savings and drive down their off-site storage in a cost-effective way. The Firm decided to retain Mattern to continue to support the engagement through our Phase III, ongoing contract compliance, invoice auditing, and vendor management.

In our experience, the most valuable outcome isn’t just the negotiated savings—it’s putting in place contract terms that allow the client to manage the relationship/results and to ensure the projected savings are realized and protected over time.

The firm was pleased with the results and the Senior Information Governance Analyst remarked, “Mattern did a nice job with the negotiations and was more successful than if we would have handled them ourselves.”