[1]Out with the old: library services outsourced in Camerons deal
Legal process outsourcing (LPO) reached a new level today after City firm CMS Cameron McKenna signed a 10-year, £583 million deal with Integreon for its “middle office” services, which it claims is the largest ever deal in the legal market and has received the endorsement of Professor Richard Susskind.
The news comes as Pangea3, another big LPO player, opens a London office as a staging post to expand its European business.
Camerons has agreed to outsource “substantial portions of accounting and finance, human resources and training, marketing and communications, learning and development, library and information services, research, information technology, facilities and other services”.
Integreon secured an endorsement for the deal from legal IT guru Professor Richard Susskind, a major advocate of LPO. He said: “This is a hugely significant development that sets the pace for the global legal market. The scale and ambition of the arrangement is remarkable, and the business case is compellingly strong – by outsourcing many of its non-core activities to Integreon, CMS Cameron McKenna should achieve major cost savings and free itself to focus more strategically on its clients and services.”
Liam Brown, Integreon’s chief executive officer, said: “Beyond the obvious savings that outsourcing will provide them, CMS Cameron McKenna will also have the strategic advantage of focusing exclusively on what their clients retain them to do – provide expert legal counsel and services.”
The company added that the decision to outsource formed part of Camerons’ “ambitious and progressive strategy to create a new model for law firms. By engaging Integreon… CMS Cameron McKenna guarantees that its business infrastructure can easily scale for rapid growth”.
Integreon’s other UK clients include Simmons & Simmons, Osborne Clarke and Foot Anstey.
Meanwhile, Pangea3 has opened in London with the aim of targeting general counsel across Europe. It has hired Brian Allan to head up the European expansion strategy. Pangea3’s co-CEO David Perla predicted that the company would secure 15% growth in Europe in year one alone, while in India an ongoing recruitment drive is already underway to meet rising demand. “We are planning to expand our 450-strong workforce with at least another 100 lawyers in Delhi and Mumbai by the end of the year,” he said.
Mr Allan said many of the company’s qualified lawyers in India are UK and US trained. “Cutting costs without compromising on quality is always a challenge and companies must look at off-shoring and outsourcing as an alternative to expensive European on-shore or near-shore centres.”