K&L Gates Loses Microsoft Preferred Firm Status

It's hard to keep business these days, even when the founder of the firm is the father of the client's founder.

That's right, K&L Gates, the firm named for Bill Gates' father (also Bill Gates), has lost its status as a preferred law firm for Microsoft, according to a report in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. 
Microsoft used to have 16 preferred firms, but the company is trying to cut costs, so it's reduced the number to ten.

According to the report, the firm was simply outbid by competitors, and the company wasn't sending a message about the firm's performance.

This might be good news for smaller Seattle law firms.  I've written before about how companies are looking to boutique firms to pick up some of their legal work in order to save on legal fees.  In some cases, the big law firms are even encouraging this to save the client money, rather than losing a client entirely.

Maybe K&L Gates should have looked into that strategy.