The regulator doesn't care
that your rate management is manual.
Financial services legal functions operate under more regulatory pressure than almost any other industry. That's exactly why outside counsel cost discipline can't be an afterthought. The panel governance you're expected to demonstrate — to your Board, your regulator, and your CFO — requires infrastructure, not spreadsheets. HSBC, UBS, and Mastercard manage their outside counsel spend on PERSUIT. Not because it was easy to justify. Because once they looked at what the old way was costing them, it was impossible not to.
Three pressures
every FS GC
is managing at once.
These aren't generic legal department problems. They're specific to financial services — shaped by regulatory obligations, fiduciary duties, and the scrutiny that comes with operating in the most closely watched sector in the world.
PERSUIT was built for exactly this environment. Not adapted from a general procurement tool. Built for the professional judgment, complexity, and compliance requirements of a large legal function in FS.
Regulatory matter volume doesn't stop
Enforcement actions, capital requirements, product approvals, AML/KYC, consumer protection, cross-border regulatory filings. The volume of outside counsel work driven by regulatory obligation is structural — it doesn't go away when the market slows down. Which means your cost management has to be just as structural.
Panel governance is a compliance obligation
In financial services, demonstrating a competitive, documented process for outside counsel selection isn't just good practice — it's expected by regulators and auditors. "We have good relationships with our firms" is not a governance answer. A structured, auditable process is. That's what PERSUIT provides by design.
The Board sees every number — including yours
In FS, the GC typically reports to the CEO or Board. Outside counsel spend isn't managed in a silo — it's visible at the top. The question you'll get asked is not "did we manage it well" but "show us how you managed it." PERSUIT gives you the answer before the question is asked.
Panel management
that holds up
under scrutiny.
Most FS legal functions have a panel. Far fewer have a system for managing it. The difference is the difference between having a governance framework on paper and being able to demonstrate it in practice.
PERSUIT turns your panel from a list of preferred firms into a functioning competitive process — with documented firm selection, structured proposal comparison, and a full audit trail on every decision.
Structured matter setup
Every matter starts with a defined scope, budget, and matter type — before a firm is engaged. The Request goes to your panel with consistent information, not a phone call to whoever you spoke to last.
Competitive responses, structured comparison
Panel firms respond through PERSUIT with structured responses — fee arrangements, team composition, relevant experience. You compare on consistent criteria, not on whoever made the strongest phone pitch.
Rate enforcement through billing rules
What was agreed in the proposal flows directly into billing rules. Rates, staffing constraints, and billing guidelines are enforced at invoice — not discovered in a quarterly review.
Full audit trail, always available
Every firm selection decision — who was invited, who responded, why the winning firm was chosen — is documented in PERSUIT. The audit trail exists because it's built into the workflow, not assembled after the fact.
OSPAR compliance.
For the FS customers
who need it.
OSPAR — the Outsourced Service Provider Assessment Report — is a financial services-specific compliance framework governing the use of outsourced service providers in Singapore and Hong Kong. It's a hard requirement for FS institutions operating in APAC, and a due diligence standard that's spreading globally.
PERSUIT maintains an OSPAR document as part of its Trust Center, available to FS customers as part of the standard evaluation process. It's one of a very small number of legal technology platforms that does.
Access the Trust Center →The matter types that shape your spend.
Outside counsel spend in financial services is dominated by a small number of matter categories. Here's how PERSUIT changes the economics of each one.
Enforcement & Regulatory Response
High-urgency matters that have historically gone to whoever picks up the phone. PERSUIT enables a rapid competitive process — often within 24 hours — so regulatory matters get a defensible selection, not just an available firm.
M&A, Capital Markets & Financing
Complex, high-value matters where billing governance matters most. AFAs structured on PERSUIT mean scope is agreed before work starts — not negotiated retroactively after 600 hours of unbudgeted partner time.
Commercial Disputes & Arbitration
Litigation budgets in FS can run into tens of millions. PERSUIT's competitive process surfaces market rates for your specific dispute type, and matter monitoring keeps budget overruns visible before they become invoices.
Panel Rate Negotiations
Annual rate negotiations informed by $22B+ in proposal data on the platform. You know what comparable firms charge for comparable work before your panel firms send their rate cards. The conversation changes when you hold the benchmark.
Security that passes
your review,
not just ours.
Financial services institutions run the most rigorous third-party vendor assessments of any sector. PERSUIT has been through the security reviews of HSBC, UBS, and Mastercard. Here's what their teams found.
Information Security Management
Certified against the current version of the international ISMS standard. Independently audited. Not self-assessed.
Audited Controls
SOC 1 Type 2 attested. SOC 2 report available under NDA via the PERSUIT Trust Center — alongside pentest report, network diagram, and data flow documentation.
Cloud Security
Cloud Security Alliance STAR certified. Hosted on Google Cloud. SecurityScorecard: A. UpGuard: 865/950. Third-party scores, independently assigned.
FS Outsourcing Compliance
OSPAR document available for Singapore and Hong Kong regulated institutions. One of a very small number of legal technology platforms with this documentation in place.
SSO & Role-Based Permissions
SSO support. Role-based access controls. Full audit logging on every platform action. Your matter data is strictly isolated — no cross-customer data access, ever.
BC/DR & Data Governance
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery policy in place with tested contingency planning. Encryption policy, acceptable use policy, and full data chain of custody documentation available.
Built for the environment you operate in.
We'll show you what a PERSUIT demo looks like for a financial services legal function — matter types, panel structure, governance documentation, and what the CFO conversation looks like when you have the data.