Executes the annual panel review cycle and ongoing panel governance decisions. Synthesises performance scorecard data, billing compliance records, and step-out patterns into panel-level recommendations. Produces the documentation for firm exits, coverage gap assessment, and competitive refresh processes. Covers the full panel governance workflow: annual health assessment through to firm exit and slot refresh.

Executes matter allocation and firm engagement from firm selection through to a live, properly-instructed matter. Match the right firm to a new matter using the right-sourcing framework. Produce a complete matter instruction ready to send. Generate the onboarding checklist that closes conflict clearance, engagement letter, OCG, and e-billing gates. Audit an existing instruction for gaps with a remediation note ready to send. This is the execution layer for a matter that has been sourced. Panel-design-selection (Skill 2) defines which firms are on the panel. RFP-pitch-management (Skill 3) selects firms through a competitive process. This skill instructs the selected firm and closes the onboarding gates.

Designs panel structures, defines firm selection criteria, runs right-sourcing analysis, and assesses coverage gaps for in-house legal teams building or formalising their outside counsel panel. Panel design is not panel review. Design asks: what should the panel look like? Review asks: is the panel performing? This skill builds the framework. Panel-review-rationalisation (Skill 8) measures against it.

Reviews outside counsel invoices against billing guidelines, flags non-compliant entries by category, and produces the documents needed to approve, reduce, reject, and communicate those decisions. Covers the full invoice compliance workflow: line-item review through to formal firm escalation. Works with or without an e-billing platform. Where an e-billing system is in place, LEDES format and UTBMS coding are hard gates. Where there is no e-billing system, invoice submission by email is the channel and UTBMS coding is a best-efforts flag.