Breaking Away from Manual Legal Operations
When GE Aerospace spun off as a standalone company, the legal team inherited outdated, opaque processes from GE Corporate. “We had an existing list of panel firms from the company, but there was no clear or accessible location to find it,” said Alison Sinkevich, Senior Legal Operations Leader at GE Aerospace. “People weren’t held accountable for using panel firms, and there was a very low level of knowledge about the program or why it was important.”
Without structure or visibility, attorneys often defaulted to familiar firms, bypassing sourcing best practices and skipping the RFP process entirely. Budget tracking was equally fragmented and delayed, relying on static Excel files that were typically updated only at year-end, when it was too late to impact spending. “Every aspect of budgeting and cost tracking has been manual and lacked structure,” Alison added. “We didn’t have a good way to have any real-time view of our financial position within the Legal organization.”
The legal team needed a purpose-built solution to manage firm relationships, enforce panel policy, and gain real-time insight into legal spend.
A Purpose-Built Platform for Visibility, Accountability & Scale
GE Aerospace partnered with Priori to roll out a centralized system for panel management, RFPs, and spend tracking. The team focused on three core goals: increasing panel utilization, simplifying sourcing workflows, and enabling smarter, data-informed budgeting.
“Our goal is to leverage Priori for continuous, real-time budget reviews, not just at year-end,” said Alison. “We aim to maintain a fully real-time perspective to monitor budget performance, capture actuals, and assess our progress toward volume discount thresholds.”
A Seamless Implementation Experience
Priori’s implementation team collaborated closely with GE Aerospace to ensure the rollout was smooth, intuitive, and scalable. “From the outset, the Priori team demonstrated a high level of proactivity, responsiveness, and genuine investment in our success,” Alison said.
The onboarding process included thoughtful customization of filters, documentation, and training resources. “I’m especially proud of the extensive preparation we completed prior to rollout,” she added. “We spent countless hours with the Priori team getting the platform ready to support our attorneys on day one.”
Driving Long-Term Impact
Even in the early days of implementation, feedback has been positive, especially around usability. “The most consistent feedback we’ve received from the team is that Priori is exceptionally intuitive to navigate,” she added. “If a tool doesn’t make a strong first impression, securing team buy-in can be challenging—but with Priori, the experience has been very positive.”
Sinkevich emphasized that this intuitive experience is helping drive their broader strategic goals: “Our top priority is directing new matters to our panel firms – and then from there, building out our RFP process.” As the team grows more familiar with the platform, they anticipate expanding its use to drive even greater efficiency, budget control, and strategic firm engagement.
Early Wins & Anticipated Impact
GE Aerospace is already seeing the benefits of centralized, structured panel management:
Increased Panel Utilization
Legal ops can now drive more work to vetted panel firms and track utilization to support program growth.
“The platform will enable greater utilization of our panel firms, support cost savings, and provide clear, ongoing visibility into usage trends—allowing our leadership team to easily identify areas for continued improvement.”
Real-Time Budget Visibility
Tying eBilling data back to RFPs and firm selection enables smarter, contextualized decisions.
“We want real-time visibility into our budget vs. actuals and a way to evaluate our progress toward volume discounts. This will promote attorney accountability and enable more timely, informed budget discussions and proactive conversations around budget overages.”
Proactive Spend Alerts
Automated alerts notify attorneys when matters approach budget thresholds, helping avoid surprises and control scope.
“Our attorneys have limited time for complex tools. Priori’s clean, user-friendly interface makes eBilling data easily accessible and quickly digestible.”
Documented Firm Selection & RFP Efficiency
With a running record of firm rationale and approvals, repeat or complex RFPs are easier to manage and scale.
“We regularly issue RFPs that are similar to prior projects—particularly in specialized areas like IP and ITC. Maintaining a record of firm selection rationales streamlines future decision-making and increases overall process efficiency.”
Strong Adoption & User Buy-In
Ease of use has been a key factor in early adoption across the team.
“There are a lot of outdated tools within the company, and typically, a poor first impression can slow down or prevent adoption. But based on conversations with our users, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive—especially regarding how easy the Priori is to use.”
Looking Ahead: RFP Adoption at Scale
As adoption grows, GE Aerospace plans to expand use of Priori’s RFP capabilities across more matters. Long term, the team sees the platform as key to building stronger law firm relationships, improving adherence to panel policies, and achieving meaningful cost savings.
“Priori is a powerful tool that streamlines access to our strategic law firms, saving us time, resources, and cost, while consistently ensuring high-quality results.”
For other legal teams evaluating Priori, Alison recommends taking the time to explore its flexibility: “We conducted demos with several teams prior to selecting Priori, and the difference was immediately clear. We weren’t looking for another overly complex tool that could deter adoption. The demos helped us recognize Priori’s value early on, which was critical to achieving strong buy-in and a successful implementation.”
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