I believe that bidding a single lawsuit competitively presents more challenges, to both the law department and the bidding firms, than bidding a portfolio of cases over time (See my posts of Oct. 31, 2005 on the competitive bidding process and Nov. 8, 2005 on giving data on hours, not spending.). As an example, in 2001 Viacom chose from among 20 competing law firms the Venable firm to handle its prosecution work and be one of its top IP litigation firms.
Holding to such a belief, I was surprised to read that TXU Corporation’s Law Department “has adopted a policy that requires outside counsel to bid on any litigation costing $750,000 or more.” (IP Law & Bus., Vol. 5, Nov. 2005 at 22).