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Mattern Assists Thompson Coe in Consolidating Offsite Records Storage, Securing a 16% Cost Reduction Through Strategic Contract Negotiations

Thompson Coe, a prominent Texas-based law firm with over 200 attorneys and a history spanning more than 70 years, enlisted Mattern's expertise to address their escalating off-site records storage costs. The firm sought a solution to manage their paper records efficiently, aiming to reduce storage expenses and ultimately eliminate the need for off-site storage altogether. Thompson Coe’s primary frustrations with their three current service providers were rising costs and the prohibitive expense of file destruction. Though the firm had ceased sending paper records Off-site, the existing inventory presented a significant challenge.

Mattern, having encountered similar issues with many law firms over the years, was well-positioned to help. The goal was to implement an electronic-first approach, reducing the firm’s reliance on paper while optimizing cost management.

OPPORTUNITY
At the beginning of the engagement, Mattern collaborated closely with the firm to understand their objectives, which included:
- Developing a cost-effective strategy to reduce or eliminate storage expenses
- Consolidating service providers
- Resolving destruction terms in Off-site contracts
- Improving overall contract terms
- Addressing the firm’s relationship with Iron Mountain

Using Mattern’s proprietary Mattern Method® Benchmark, the firm’s current costs were compared to industry standards, revealing significant savings. Based on this, Thompson Coe requested Mattern to manage the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, understanding that competition could drive down costs. Proposals were requested from two incumbent providers; the third provider was unwilling to adjust its pricing or terms.

SOLUTION
After reviewing the proposals and conducting interviews, Thompson Coe chose to consolidate their entire records inventory with GRM under a 7-year contract, resulting in significant cost savings. Concurrently, Mattern negotiated a settlement with Iron Mountain, the provider holding the largest portion of the firm’s inventory. After eight months of attempts by the firm to resolve the matter independently, Mattern successfully secured a favorable settlement.

RESULTS
Mattern helped the firm negotiate more favorable contract terms, including a much-needed destruction allowance that was critical to the firm’s strategy. The new contract also introduced detailed penalties for delays in orders, deliveries, and pickups, further protecting the firm.

Over the new 7-year contract, Thompson Coe will realize a 16% reduction in costs, with Mattern’s fees entirely offset by the savings generated. Mattern continues to oversee the firm’s invoicing and contract compliance, ensuring seamless records consolidation and management of destruction allowances during the first year.

Thompson Coe’s COO, Michael Anthony, commented on the successful outcome: "Mattern was excellent. Very good outcome and deliverables. Made great strides with the Off-site storage contract and planned destruction of boxes/records."

The Firm has requested that Mattern stay involved in the engagement through the seven (7) years of the contract. This is considered Mattern’s Phase III which involves the monitoring and maintenance of the contract as well as monthly invoice review. Mattern’s oversight ensures that the contract is being adhered to and the Firm is taking full advantage of all negotiated terms with the goal of making the relationship with GRM as successful as possible.

Shane Daugherty, Manager of Records/Conflicts, recently provided feedback on the project’s Phase III giving Mattern an NPS of 10 and commenting: "Mattern knows the business with the issues created by off-site storage vendors. They took the ball and ran with it, meeting all their target dates. The process has been smooth and easy. Mattern walked us through the whole process and kept us informed. All steps were explained, and all questions were answered in detail. Even after the contracts were signed, Mattern follows up monthly with the invoices, verifying they are accurate and adhere to the contract."

Mattern is proud to have helped Thompson Coe achieve their goals and secure a more efficient and cost-effective off-site records solution.

Mattern Leads Strategic Outsourcing for AmLaw 25 Firm, Lowering Costs and Enhancing Services

To elevate service quality and secure more competitive pricing, this global AmLaw 25 firm needed to refresh more than a decade-old outsourcing model across multiple administrative and support functions. Mattern partnered with the firm to restructure leadership, optimize staffing, and integrate technology, ultimately delivering savings of more than 10% and reducing off-site facility costs by 71%—all while strengthening vendor accountability and aligning operations with the firm’s long-term strategic goals.

Future-Ready Legal Operations: How Mattern Helped a Leading Law Firm Optimize Outsourcing, Technology, and Governance

To stay ahead of shifting demands, this California-based NLJ 500 firm needed to align its outsourcing, equipment, and information governance practices with a hybrid work environment. Mattern helped the firm optimize operations, strengthen policy, and secure long-term stability across 12 offices—all while recovering the full cost of the engagement.

A prominent Boston-based law firm undergoing an administration transition identified a pressing need: many of its vendor contracts supporting office and administrative services had not been reviewed in years. The new administration recognized that they lacked both the in-house expertise and bandwidth to evaluate and renegotiate these agreements effectively.

MatternPILOT in Action: Total Savings of 34% and Better Yet, Proper Contract Management

Like so many firms, the Firm had boxes of paper records that hadn’t been touched in years. The attorneys responsible had retired or moved on, and the boxes of records lay idle.

Mattern Assists Law Firm in Unraveling Decades of Paper Records and Rebuilding Information Governance Strategy

The procurement of office supplies is back to pre-pandemic levels and firms are once again looking to optimize their spend. After years of decline due to hybrid work and the shift to digital output, the overall dollar spend is back, or in some cases, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

AmLaw 200 Firm Streamlines Procurement and Saves 43% on Office Supplies

Establishing and maintaining a successful contract negotiation is a situation in which there needs to be two winners, not a winner and a loser. While every firm wants to procure the best contracts through informed negotiation, it is also important to preserve the long term, industry relationships with the vendors. You’ve got to pick the competitors wisely, and you must know the best practices in your region. To that end, there’s a great deal of strategy involved in an Open RFP; one might say an art.

Prominent IP Law Firm Achieves Win-Win & 10 Year Contract with Open Off-Site Records RFP

With more than 1,100 lawyers and consulting professionals in 24 offices worldwide, this firm is a leading business and litigation practice with global reach. As is the trend with many successful large firms, this particular one had undergone a merger in 2009 with an established Atlanta-based firm.

National Firm Gains 33% Reduction in Permanent Withdrawal Fees and 22% Monthly Savings on Outsourcing Contracts in Dual RFPs

Best Best & Krieger, LLP is a 180-attorney law firm that has been in business for more than a century. The firm has grown to include several dynamic practice groups across eight offices throughout California.

Mattern & Associates Spearheads Vendor Consolidation, Achieves 23% Monthly Savings in Support Services for Best Best & Krieger

Established in 1891, Best Best & Krieger (BBK) is a highly regarded, full-service law firm of over 350 professionals, including more than 200 attorneys across nine offices in California and in Washington, D.C. Maria D’Aquila is the firm’s Operations Manager.

Mattern’s Phase III Contract Compliance Program Achieves Maximum Value for Best Best & Krieger’s Office Supplies Contracts

This 320 attorney, AmLaw 200, Houston-based firm was in the throes of implementing a “work-cell” environment for their secretaries per practice area. The restructuring of staff and office layout required a different output strategy to be deployed in order to provide the tools and technology within close proximity to the work-cells, while also looking to reduce expenses. However, the firm had several expiration dates for their existing multi-function devices, requiring a creative plan for addressing replacements that also substantially improved the convenience and efficiency for the new work-cell environment.

AmLaw 200 Firm Shifts to Work-Cell Environment, Captures 24% in Cost Savings while Substantially Improving Operational Efficiency

This AmLaw 200, Chicago-based firm had taken advantage of outsourcing methods over the last couple of years; however, its current outsourcing and equipment contract was soon to expire. Since the firm renewed with the incumbent vendor the previous five years, they were interested in learning what other service bureaus were providing in the outsourcing marketplace. The firm also desired to determine whether they were staffed appropriately and operating under industry best practices and service levels with competitive pricing.

Chicago-based Firm Improves Workflow and Achieves 33% Annual Savings

This 250 attorney, Am Law 200, Washington D.C.-based firm had specific areas in which it was struggling; in particular, they were finding it difficult to keep current with technology, flexing to meet demand, and recovering costs for the internal systems and storage related to litigation support services (e-Discovery).