Are law departments deliberately slowing down payments to law firms?

An aggrieved managing partner at a recent conference told a roomful of inside counsel that payment patterns are changing with clients. He said, in effect, that law departments are stringing out payment of fees for months and months.

My feeling is that no general counsel adopts delay as a money-saving idea. No, the holdback and drip-feed stems from the finance group. When a company has to conserve cash, all vendors get the same back of the hand.