Nashville-based entrepreneur Joe Freedman has launched his latest legal-industry venture, an online procurement system that promises to trim companies' spending on attorneys.

Freedman, who partnered with Richard Brock almost a decade ago to start American Legal Search, is also teaming up on RFx Legal, this time with Courtney Sapire, an Austin-based attorney recruiter. They are positioning their new company as "the first online procurement application tailored by lawyers for the legal industry."

Freedman and Sapire say their venture is a response to businesses' desire to cut their outside counsel bills. RFx Legal combines consulting services with a Web clearinghouse that lets companies' in-house attorneys more efficiently find the needed expertise.

“Over the last several years, law firms and corporate legal departments have attempted – with limited success – to increase efficiencies and reduce the costs of legal services,” Freedman said. “But as the severity of the recession intensified, these aims became imperatives.”

Sapire said “RFx Legal is delivering the right solution at the right time” and that the company is adding offices in New York and Houston.

If American Legal Search was any indication, chances are more locations will follow quickly. Within 15 months of its launch, American Legal Search had opened offices in four other cities and now has a national reach.