Camerons battles backlash from controversial outsourcing deal
CMS CAMERON McKenna has admitted that a number of elements of its business support function may be retained in-house after facing a barrage of criticism over its deal with outsourcing specialist Integreon.
Since the news of the £600m deal broke, The Lawyer’s online messageboard has been inundated with comments from Camerons’ staff criticising the tie-up.
Director of operations Tony Wright, who has been central to overseeing the agreement and will begin a secondment at Integreon next month, admitted that there has been some negative reaction among Camerons’ staff.
Wright said: “There’s been a mix [of reactions] and that’s understandable. It’s a change for the majority of people and that brings uncertainty.”
Wright added that some functions of the business may not move over to Integreon. “We still don’t know. It may be that some elements prove too strategic and it doesn’t make sense [to outsource them].
“It may be that some individuals are retained by the law firm - it’s never been the case that every element of the business support process would be transferred across,” continued Wright.
The firm has begun a series of meetings with staff at all levels. It has set up sub-committees of the staff forum to discuss the changes and has started publishing regular newsletter updates.
The deal will see a shared service centre set up at Camerons’ London HQ, with a capacity for up to 200 support staff. It will then be made available to other law firms in an agreement similar to that signed last year between Integreon and Osborne Clarke.
However, the Bristol firm has outsourced only around three quarters of its back office, with senior figures understood to be reluctant to move towards the full-service model.
Osborne Clarke managing partner Simon Beswick said: “We took an approach that was more conservative, partly because no one had done it before and so the risk was much greater.
“Also, we felt that some areas are less process-driven and we wanted to keep some areas in-house.”
Some commentators have questioned how Camerons will be able to guarantee confidentiality if functions such as knowledge management, communications and business development are outsourced.
One senior partner at a rival firm commented: “We certainly wouldn’t do it and I can’t imagine clients would be too happy about it either.”
Wright claimed that processes will be put in place to ensure confidentiality.
He said: “Some people would be dedicated only to CMS Cameron McKenna but would still be employed in the shared centre.”
The new centre is expected to go live in the autumn after a three-month due diligence process.
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Readers' comments (35)
How to | 27-May-2010 1:45 pm
How do you create a small, profitable law firm? Start with a large profitable law firm and give it to Duncan and Tony.
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Anonymous | 27-May-2010 10:47 pm
Having worked for CMS for "many" years and having the adjusted redundancy package introduced (on the promise there were "no" planned redundancies and there were "80" 3 months later), being encouraged to sign up to the Flex (until December 2010) for the good of the firm (which the Management never signed up for) and to ensure my job was safe and now THIS while "we're" STILL paying for the flex, I actually think they've done me a favour coz I'm gonna hold out, get my "well deserved" redundancy (even if it is capped at 20 years meaning that what I've done over that counts for nothing) and get myself a new job with someone that will undoubtedly be better. Your loss!!!!
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Big Noise | 28-May-2010 3:05 pm
Two weeks on from the fanfare of trumpets I gather the top brass are in hibernation. There is a lot of angry staff, many contributing here, yet the management response is an ear-splitting silence. May be there is nothing to report. May be they are stunned at the reaction. May be they're ashamed. But wouldn't it be prudent to say something even if only "oops!"
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Anonymous | 2-Jun-2010 9:10 am
I still do not understand why it is not widly known that Integreon have been looking into CMCK dealings and making assesements for over 18 months already!!! CMCK are not being honest as they already know who is going and they are not sharing this as they do not want to let staff go until they have done knowledge transfere. As soon as that is done and they have sucked all the meat off the bones of all the staff they will chuck them on the scrap heap. They knew about this when they made adjustements to the redundancy package so they could save even more money and give staff the bare minimum package without impacting there bonuses. Most bonuses have stopped this year but some are being paid to the people who have a good chance of staying.
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Anonymous | 3-Jun-2010 4:03 am
It seems the firm hasn't completely lost the human touch. Someone on the Cameron's website team is enjoying a not-so-private joke on the Careers page, (www.cms-cmck.com/careers/pages/default.aspx). The main image looks suspiciously like a noose. And the shamefully jolly Jekkyl and Hyde rhetoric on the 'How We Work' pages could have been produced by that nice chap from Integreon. Last out the door gets to write the Alumni pages.
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