FAQ
If you don't see the answer to your question below, feel free to contact our support team at support@aliunde.com or (312) 878-6775.
Differences Between Registering as a Law Firm and as an Individual Lawyer
Considerations Under the Ethical Rules
What is Aliunde?
Aliunde is a legal marketplace. It is a web-based service that businesses use to bid out legal projects. Aliunde uses a simplified, non-binding request for proposal (RFP) system to give clients and law firms the ability to quickly and efficiently exchange information and propose engagement terms for potential projects. For more information, please see How It Works.
What does "Aliunde" mean?
"Aliunde" is a Latin word meaning "from another place or outside source".
How is "Aliunde" pronounced?
Ah-LEE-oon-day
Do I need to purchase any software or consulting services before I use Aliunde?
No. Aliunde is web-based, accessed through your web browser.
Is Aliunde a referral service?
No. Aliunde does not screen, select, refer or recommend any particular lawyer or law firm.
Are posted RFPs or responses to RFPs binding?
No. Neither posted RFPs nor responses are binding.
What projects are good candidates for an RFP on Aliunde?
Good candidate projects for Aliunde include legal matters with one or more of the following characteristics:
- Are large enough to merit a search for the right counsel
- Are outside the geographic scope or expertise of legacy counsel
- Raise conflict of interest issues with legacy counsel
- Would benefit from specialized expertise
- Are likely to interest counsel due to the size of the matter or the prospects for future work
- Are defined enough in scope and requirements to receive meaningful responses
What do RFPs on Aliunde include?
The RFP creation process on Aliunde prompts potential clients to provide information regarding a variety of topics related to their legal matters. Some information is required, such as the deadline for response. Other information, such as a cover letter, is optional. The RFP process is designed to elicit the key information law firms need to provide meaningful responses but is also flexible enough to accommodate the degree of information (and thus effort) appropriate to the project. For example, a significant, complicated matter likely to result in relatively large legal fees will likely require a more detailed RFP than one for a smaller, simpler project.
Here is an outline of the topics covered by an RFP on Aliunde:
- Introductory information (e.g., a cover letter)
- General information about the potential client (e.g., company name and approximate annual revenue)
- Information about the matter (e.g., a description of the project and its anticipated start date)
- Staffing preferences for the matter (e.g., preferences relating to the lead attorney's qualifications)
- Technology and diversity requirements (e.g., compatibility with specific ebilling software)
- Attachments (e.g., a copy of a complaint)
- Engagement preferences and requirements (e.g., whether a fixed fee or other alternative billing arrangement is preferred)
- Rule 1.18 informed consent (i.e., whether the posting client is providing a Rule 1.18 informed consent with respect to the information contained in the RFP)
- Contact information for the person posting the RFP
- Which law firms can see the RFP (e.g., all registered law firms or only specifically identified firms)
Will the RFP disclose the identify of the posting company and the individual posting on behalf of the company?
Not necessarily. The potential client posting an RFP can choose whether to disclose the identity of the posting company and the identity of the individual submitting the RFP. For example, in-house counsel posting an RFP might disclose her employer's identity but not her own in order to minimize solicitations outside of the RFP process. We note that many law firms will be reluctant to respond to RFPs that do not identify the posting company.
Who can see RFPs?
RFPs are visible only to the potential client posting the RFP and to the law firms to which the potential client makes the RFP visible. The potential client decides whether to make the RFP visible to all registered law firms, only to law firms meeting specified size and office location criteria, or only to specified law firms. Potential clients cannot see RFPs posted by other potential clients. Aliunde staff members cannot see RFPs.
How should I decide whether to make an RFP visible to all registered law firms or to a more limited group?
Aliunde allows a potential client posting an RFP to make the RFP available to (a) all registered law firms, (b) only a subset of registered law firms based on law firm size and office location criteria, or (c) only specified, registered law firms. Factors to consider when deciding who can see your RFP might include the nature of the matter, the information you include in your RFP, and your desired pool of potential respondents. For example, if your company has publicly announced its intentions to open 10 retail stores in a particular city and you were posting an RFP for the legal work related to those store openings, you might decide to make the RFP visible to all registered law firms with an office in that city. On the other hand, if you were considering litigation against a former employee, you might limit visibility of an RFP for the matter to specified law firms with whom you had previously cleared conflicts.
A law firm has asked for my "client number". Where can I find this?
Click on "Update Profile" from your client home page. Your client number will be at the top of your profile page. Law firms and lawyers can use client numbers to specify the clients from whom they can see RFPs.
What information will I see when law firms respond?
Please see What do responses on Aliunde include? below for a summary of the information provided in responses to an RFP. Please also see How It Works for an example of the summary table of results presented to you.
Can I amend an RFP after I post it?
Yes.
What are the advantages of using Aliunde as a potential client?
Aliunde allows potential clients to:
- Quickly find new counsel
- Minimize the need to create and manage new relationships
- Efficiently collect multiple bids for matters
- Compare, sort, and manage responses
- Create a competitive environment for legal work
- Make more informed engagement decisions
In contrast to simply asking for referrals and/or proposals for a particular matter, Aliunde is more efficient and provides more comprehensive and comparable responses. Aliunde gives potential clients more information, from more law firms, on which to make follow up inquiries, negotiate engagement terms, and make engagement decisions. At the same time, the explicitly competitive nature of the RFP process encourages stronger bids from law firms. Finally, the structured yet flexible and non-binding design of Aliunde makes the process straightforward for both potential clients and law firms, which opens the bidding process to projects that previously would not have benefitted from it.
Aliunde lets you answer the question, "Did I engage the right firm, on the right terms, for this matter?".
What RFPs can I view?
Registered law firms can view any RFP made visible to them by posting potential clients, subject to any restrictions on RFP visibility self-imposed by the law firm. When posting an RFP, the potential client decides whether to make it visible to all registered firms, only to law firms meeting specified size and office location criteria, or only to specified law firms. A registered law firm can elect to see all RFPs made visible to the firm, only RFPs meeting specified size of matter criteria and/or posted by potential clients meeting specified annual revenue criteria, or only RFPs from specified clients.
What information is available about an RFP before I view the entire RFP?
RFPs are listed with the following information:
- Information about the potential client: Client name, website address, state or country of the client's headquarters, a brief description of the client's business, the client's approximate annual revenue, and whether the client is publicly traded in the U.S. This information is discretionary and may be omitted by the potential client at the client's option.
- Information about the matter: Type of work (litigation/adversarial proceeding, non-litigation, or both), a brief description of the project (limited to 70 characters), the amount in dispute / transaction size (optional), adverse parties (optional), and whether the potential client is providing a Rule 1.18 informed consent with respect to the contents of the RFP.
- Information about the RFP process: The dates on which the RFP was first posted and most recently amended, the deadline for responses, and the number of existing responses from law firms.
What if I have questions for the potential client after viewing the RFP?
You have several options for communicating with the potential client about the RFP. If you have a pre-existing relationship with the posting client or the posting client provides individual contact information, you can contact the potential client directly. Alternatively, you can use Aliunde's private bulletin board feature to communicate directly and privately with the posting client. Finally, you can include your questions in your response to the RFP and later amend your response once the potential client provides feedback.
What RFPs are good candidates for response?
Good candidate projects for a response include matters with one or more of the following characteristics:
- With an existing client or long sought after client
- In which your firm has particular expertise or other strengths
- Of a type for which your firm seeks expertise or volume
- That create opportunities for additional work from the client
- That allow beneficial exposure to a decision maker with engagement authority
What do responses on Aliunde include?
The response creation process on Aliunde prompts law firms to provide information responsive to the information, requirements, and preferences expressed by the posting client. Some information is required, such as the identity and qualifications of the proposed lead attorney and preliminary minimum and maximum fee estimates. Other information, such as a cover letter and general law firm credentials, is optional. The system is flexible enough to accommodate a range of response detail appropriate to the RFP. For example, a response to an RFP for a relatively small project that is posted by a client already familiar with your law firm will likely be significantly less detailed than a response to an RFP for a large project with a potential new client.
Here is an outline of the topics covered in a response on Aliunde:
- Introductory information (e.g., a cover letter)
- General information about the responding law firm (e.g., name and size)
- Information about the proposed lead attorney (e.g., contact information, education, and relevant experience)
- Information about the rest of the proposed team
- Information about the law firm's qualifications
- Ability to meet any technology or diversity program requirements expressed by the client
- Proposed engagement terms (e.g., fee structure and non-binding minimum and maximum fee estimates)
Can I amend a response after I post it?
Yes.
What are the advantages to a law firm of using Aliunde?
Aliunde allows law firms and lawyers to:
- Access new clients
- Secure new projects from existing clients
- See market demand for legal services
- Showcase credentials to in-house counsel and other corporate decision makers
In summary, Aliunde provides you with another channel to market your services to potential clients. Unlike many channels, Aliunde allows you to present your qualifications, in a specific and credible manner, directly to client decision makers at the time the potential client is actively seeking to engage counsel.
Differences Between Registering as a Law Firm and as an Individual Lawyer
Can I register as an individual lawyer even though I am with a law firm?
Yes. Aliunde permits both individual lawyers and law firms as a whole to register. An individual registered lawyer takes on the characteristics of his or her law firm for purposes of determining which RFPs are visible to the lawyer.
Are there any differences between registering as a law firm and registering as an individual lawyer?
Yes, although the core features of the Aliunde service are available to both groups. Both registered law firms and individually registered lawyers can view and respond to RFPs. An individually registered lawyer is asked to provide information about his or her law firm's size and office locations, which is then used by Aliunde for purposes of determining RFP visibility. The registrations differ, however, in the use of the system by others within the law firm. A registered law firm can grant multiple users within the firm access to Aliunde. An individually registered lawyer cannot grant additional users access under his or her registration.
What rights can a registered law firm grant to additional users?
A registered law firm can grant access rights to multiple additional users within the firm. Each additional user is assigned a unique user ID and password. An additional user can be granted general user rights, which allow the user to see and respond to any RFP made visible to the law firm, or the additional user can be granted limited user rights, which allow the user to see and respond only to a specifically identified RFP. For example, a law firm might grant each partner in the firm general user rights and grant associates limited access rights on an as needed basis.
Are RFPs and responses confidential?
Under our Terms of Use, lawyers and law firms using Aliunde have a general obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any non-public or proprietary information provided by potential clients via Aliunde, except as otherwise permitted by the potential client providing the information. This obligation of confidentiality is in addition to those imposed by the applicable rules of professional conduct.
There is, however, an important exception to this general obligation of confidentiality on lawyers and law firms. Certain information provided by clients in an RFP is or may be subject to an informed consent under Rule 1.18, as discussed below under How does Aliunde address considerations under Rule 1.18?. Information provided by a potential client that is subject to an informed consent under Rule 1.18 may be used by the receiving lawyer and law firm to the extent necessary to satisfy their ethical obligations to another client.
In addition to the obligations on confidentiality contained in the Terms of Use and the rules of professional conduct applicable to the receiving lawyers and law firms, Aliunde gives potential clients significant control over the information they make available to law firms. A potential client posting an RFP can elect whether to identify the potential client and/or an individual contact at the potential client. The potential client can also limit the substantive content of an RFP and limit the firms able to view the RFP. Aliunde expects that RFPs for more sensitive matters will be made visible to a limited number of firms and/or contain limited information about the matter. We note, however, that firms may be less likely to provide meaningful responses or to respond at all if the potential client is not identified or the matter is not sufficiently described.
With respect to information received by potential clients, under our Terms of Use, potential clients agree to maintain the confidentiality of any non-public or proprietary fee or other pricing information provided to them via Aliunde, unless otherwise permitted by the law firm providing the information.
Aliunde staff members do not have access to individual RFPs, responses or bulletin board conversations.
Considerations Under the Ethical Rules
Does using Aliunde create an attorney-client relationship?
Aliunde takes no view on whether use of this website creates an attorney-client relationship between potential clients and responding law firms. We note, however, that the Terms of Use disclaim the creation of an attorney-client relationship based solely on the submission of an RFP and the posting of a response to the RFP. Each response bears a similar disclaimer.
No attorney-client relationship is created between Aliunde and users of this site. Aliunde does not provide legal services.
How does Aliunde address considerations under Rule 1.18?
Rule 1.18 of the current ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct states in part that (emphasis added):
(a) A person who discusses with a lawyer the possibility of forming a client-lawyer relationship with respect to a matter is a prospective client.
(b) Even when no client-lawyer relationship ensues, a lawyer who has had discussions with a prospective client shall not use or reveal information learned in the consultation, except as Rule 1.9 would permit with respect to information of a former client.
(c) A lawyer subject to paragraph (b) shall not represent a client with interests materially adverse to those of a prospective client in the same or a substantially related matter if the lawyer received information from the prospective client that could be significantly harmful to that person in the matter, except as provided in paragraph (d). If a lawyer is disqualified from representation under this paragraph, no lawyer in a firm with which that lawyer is associated may knowingly undertake or continue representation in such a matter, except as provided in paragraph (d).
(d) When the lawyer has received disqualifying information as defined in paragraph (c), representation is permissible if: (1) both the affected client and the prospective client have given informed consent, confirmed in writing, or...:
To the extent that this rule (as enacted by, and together with any analogous rules or statutes adopted in, each jurisdiction adopting rules of professional conduct for lawyers, "Rule 1.18") is deemed to apply to any RFPs or private bulletin board postings by those using the Aliunde services as a potential client, Aliunde addresses Rule 1.18 considerations in several ways. First, law firms that are particularly concerned about Rule 1.18 can limit visibility of RFPs to only specific named clients. This allows law firms to control the parties from whom they see RFPs and also gives law firms the opportunity, if desired, to make additional arrangements related to Rule 1.18 with existing or potential clients. Second, certain minimal information about a posted RFP is provided to law firms before the entire RFP is made visible, as described under What information is available about an RFP before I view the entire RFP? above. This RFP notice listing information is, under the Terms of Use, subject to a Rule 1.18 informed consent by the potential client posting the RFP. Third, when a potential client posts an RFP, the potential client must indicate whether it is providing a Rule 1.18 informed consent with respect to the entire contents of the RFP and any related private bulletin board conversations. This indication of whether the potential client is providing a Rule 1.18 informed consent (viewable here) for the entire RFP is included in the RFP notice listing and can thus be taken into consideration by a law firm deciding whether to view the details of an RFP.
As a potential client posting an RFP, do I need to provide an informed consent under Rule 1.18 for the RFP notice listing information?
Yes. Providing an informed consent under Rule 1.18 for this information is required and automatic under our Terms of Use. Potential clients concerned about providing this consent with respect to a particular matter can limit the information they provide, can limit the law firms able to view the RFP, or can decline to use Aliunde to post an RFP for the matter. For a description of the RFP notice information provided to law firms and subject to the consent, please see What information is available about an RFP before I view the entire RFP? above.
As a potential client posting an RFP, do I need to provide an informed consent under Rule 1.18 for all of the information contained in the RFP?
No. The consent covering all of the information in the RFP is optional.
What are the fees for using Aliunde?
Clients
Registration with Aliunde is free for clients.
Posting an RFP requires a payment of $400 unless the posting client has received a fee waiver, in which case the Aliunde service is free of charge. Many established companies are entitled to a fee waiver. To request a fee waiver, email us at sales@aliunde.com or call us at (312) 878-6777.
Law Firms and Lawyers
Law firms can register as a firm with Aliunde, and individual lawyers can register individually. To learn more about the differences between registering as a law firm or as an individual lawyer, please see Differences Between Registering as a Law Firm and as an Individual Lawyer. Registration by a law firm is $400 for the first year. Registration by an individual lawyer is $200 for the first year. After the first year, annual registration fees for law firms and individually registered lawyers will be established on a case-by-case basis. Registration fees in excess of the first year amounts described in this paragraph will cover a specified or unlimited number of RFP posts, as established in each case. Annual registration fees are payable in advance.
Posting a response to an RFP requires a payment of $200 unless the response is covered by the registration of the posting law firm or lawyer.
What is your refund policy?
If Aliunde experiences a technical issue that causes our service to fail to operate as described on this site, we will promptly, upon your request to support@aliunde.com, refund any fees paid by you for the failed operation. The refund amount will not exceed the posting fees described above for individual RFPs or responses. Please note that we do not guarantee your results for any particular post.
What browsers do you support?
Aliunde has been tested to work with Internet Explorer 7.0 and 8.0. If you are using a different browser and this website is not displaying or operating properly, please switch to one of the tested browsers.
Do I need to disable my popup blocker?
You might. This site's RFP and response preview and view features sometimes create a popup window for display purposes.
