Client Feedback
What Clients Have Said About the Work
Feedback from legal operations managers and general counsel who have used Pylon Index engagements. Where names are shown, they have been shared with permission.
Back to Home40+
Engagements completed
4.7
Average satisfaction score
6+
Years in the field
HK & SG
Client geographies
Client Reviews
Direct Feedback
Patricia Lam
Legal Operations Manager, Hong Kong
"We commissioned the Single Diagnostic Study to look at our external counsel spend before a panel renewal. The memo was clearer than anything we had produced internally — the findings section actually told us something we could act on. The open questions section was unexpectedly useful."
April 2025
James Teo
Deputy General Counsel, Singapore
"The Operations Analytics Programme has given us a monthly report we can put in front of the CFO without additional preparation. Before this, our cost reporting was ad-hoc and time-consuming to produce. The format takes some getting used to, but it is consistent and the commentary is honest."
March 2025
Anita Krishnamurthy
Head of Legal, Hong Kong
"We started with the Data Readiness Review and it was worth the time and cost on its own. The memo identified two data quality issues we had not noticed and told us clearly what our billing exports could support analytically. That shaped how we approached the diagnostic that followed."
April 2025
Michael Wu
General Counsel, Hong Kong
"The quarterly review meetings are the most useful part of the programme for me. Having someone who has spent a month with the data explain what the patterns show — and where the numbers are thin — is different from reading a report on your own. I would not get that from an internal team producing the same figures."
March 2025
Sarah Cheung
Legal Ops Lead, Wan Chai, HK
"What I appreciated was that they did not overstate what the data could show. Our billing data has gaps and rather than working around them silently, the methodology note in each report was explicit about it. That matters when you are using the outputs to brief finance."
February 2025
Rahul Nair
Senior Legal Counsel, Singapore
"We used the single diagnostic to look at matter-cost composition before a budget submission. The vendor-spend section was the most useful part — it gave us specific figures to use in discussions with two of our panel firms. The written format also meant I could attach it to the submission without editing."
April 2025
Engagement Examples
Case Studies
Case Study 01
External Counsel Spend Review Before Panel Renewal
Challenge
An in-house legal team at a financial services firm in Hong Kong needed to review three years of external counsel billing before renewing their panel arrangements. The data existed in their billing system but had never been analysed systematically. The team did not have capacity to do the analysis themselves in the available timeframe.
Approach
We conducted a Single Diagnostic Study using the buyer's billing export. The study covered matter-cost composition by practice area, timekeeper seniority distribution, and vendor-spend concentration across the three-year period. Delivered as a written memo with supporting charts.
Outcome
The memo identified concentration risk in two practice areas — over 60% of spend was directed to a single firm in each case — and showed a consistent upward trend in average billing rates over the period. The team used the findings directly in their panel renewal negotiation. Engagement duration: three weeks.
"Having the numbers laid out in a document I could hand to outside counsel was very different from having them somewhere in a spreadsheet." — Legal Operations Manager
Case Study 02
Monthly Reporting for a Regional In-House Team
Challenge
A regional in-house legal team was producing monthly cost reports manually using spreadsheet exports. The process took two to three days per month and the output was inconsistent between team members. The deputy GC wanted a stable reporting format that did not require that level of internal effort.
Approach
We began with a Data Readiness Review to assess what the team's billing system exports could support. After confirming the scope, the team moved to the Operations Analytics Programme. Dashboard structure was agreed in weeks one and two; the first monthly report was delivered at the end of month one.
Outcome
The team has received monthly reports for nine months. Internal time spent on cost reporting dropped materially. The quarterly review meetings have surfaced two data quality issues in the underlying billing system that the team subsequently corrected. Engagement is ongoing at HKD 7,400 per month.
"The consistency of the format means we can actually compare across months. Before, each report looked slightly different depending on who produced it." — Deputy General Counsel
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Mon – Fri: 9:00 – 18:00 HKT
Sat – Sun: Closed
Written enquiries are typically responded to within one business day. For enquiries from Singapore or other time zones, responses are sent by end of the Hong Kong business day.
Professional Standing
HKLA Associate Member
Active participation in the Hong Kong Legal Analytics community, contributing to data standards discussion for in-house teams in the region.
CLOC Asia Pacific Working Group
Contributor to published notes on operational data standards for in-house legal teams in Hong Kong and Singapore (2024).
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