Just in case you’ve been under a rock and missed this huge legal outsourcing deal …
There’s press everywhere about this. The Am Law Daily is A Good a place as any to read about it..
CMS Cameron McKenna Inks Major Outsourcing Deal
Legal process outsourcing (LPO) company Integreon has entered into what it describes in a press release as the largest legal outsourcing deal ever, worth $852 million over ten years, with British law firm CMS Cameron McKenna.
The work covered by the agreement–nonbillable support tasks such as accounting, human resources, marketing, training, and information technology–does not affect lawyers directly.
According to the U.K. publication Legal Week, that means current law firm jobs won’t necessarily be shipped overseas. Instead, CMS employees whose “middle office” duties are covered by the deal will continue with their jobs but will start drawing a paycheck from Integreon rather than from the law firm.
CMS managing partner Duncan Weston told Legal Week, “We are not anticipating any redundancies at the moment. We want this to be seen as something which will be positive for the career development of our business support staff with the opportunities that they will have at Integreon.”
Full article at?? http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2010/05/integreon.html
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And on the other hand … employees aren’t overjoyed according to a report on CIO.com who write..
The firm, which is part of CMS, is one of Europe?s top provider of legal and tax services, said the outsourcing arrangement will enable it to better focus on its core competency ? providing high-end legal and tax services, as well as handle its anticipated growth.
What it will not do?apparently?is make current employees feel all warm and fuzzy. According to an article in The Lawyer, a Web site and print publication for the legal profession, CMS Cameron McKenna?s outsourcing decision has stirred up a lot of criticism.
In fact, in this article on The Lawyer?s site, it has been reported that The Lawyer?s online message board has received numerous comments and complaints from CMS Cameron McKenna?s staff.
The criticism has not been lost on CMS Cameron McKenna?s executives either. Director of operations Tony Wright acknowledged that not all the employees are happy about the outsourcing decision, and also said that some functions of the business may not move over to Integreon, according to The Lawyer article.
Regardless of how it all turns out, CMS Cameron McKenna is trying to communicate what?s going on; its holding meetings with staff, setting up committees, and publishing regular newsletter updates, the article notes. It?s unclear to me whether the firm began all the communications efforts before the deal was struck, or after.
Which brings me to this:? in this day and age, when so many are unsure of their job situations and unemployment numbers continue to run high (especially in the United Kingdom, where 2.51 million are unemployed, the U.K.?s Office for National Statistics reported earlier this month), it would seem prudent for companies to talk as early and as often as they can whenever there are major organizational and business model changes.
http://advice.cio.com/beth_bacheldor/10472/u_k_law_firm_s_outsourcing_deal_draws_fire
