2/2/2009
Top UK Law Firm Osborne Clarke Outsources Middle Office
Top UK law firm Osborne Clarke has outsourced a significant portion of its support services ("Middle Office") to Integreon.
The Osborne Clarke press release explains
"Osborne Clarke (OC) today announced a unique and innovative response to client demands for greater efficiency from the legal industry with a £50 million deal with Integreon to create the UK legal sector's first onshore shared services centre. The seven year deal will see approximately 75 of OC's business services employees transferred to Integreon.
Client demands led OC to look at the way law firms buy and use support services. Over the last 12 months, the firm has put its own working practices under the microscope as well as those of competitors. It concluded that the legal industry would move to focus on core legal services in future. Support services would be provided by a new generation of businesses focused on high end multiple service provision to the professional services community."
I now work for Integreon and strive to maintain my objectivity. In May 2003, one of my first blog posts was Central Back Offices and Outsourcing. In it, I reported on Orrick building it shared services center in Wheeling, WV. I wrote
"It's surprising that more firms are not moving in this direction. More and more law firms have multiple offices across many time zones, domestic and international. Housing a significant number of staff in downtown real estate is expensive. Moreover, the argument that staff need to have access to lawyers loses weight as the percent of lawyers located in the "home" office declines. And with the increasing use of e-mail, instant messaging, and video conferencing, the need for physical proximity diminishes."
As I suggested a couple of weeks ago in The Crisis Goes to Waste as BigLaw Muddles Through, law firms can hardly argue that they have rationalized or optimized how they deliver support. Shared services certainly seems a big step in the right direction. Some other firms have created shared centers: White & Case, Baker McKenzie, Reed Smith, and Clifford Chance.
Is the shared services approach (outsourced or not) trickle now becoming a trend? I've long thought shared services makes economic, operational, and strategic sense for law firms. It will be interesting to see what impact the economic crisis has on how law firms provide critical support services.
http://www.prismlegal.com/wordpress/index.php?p=913&c=1
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment