Camerons outsources all support services in £600m deal
CMS Cameron McKenna has become the first firm to outsource its entire business support function after agreeing a £600m deal with Integreon.
Duncan Weston
The game-changing agreement will see the top 20 firm sublet a floor of its City HQ to Integreon and transfer as many as 200 support staff into the newly created service centre.
Director of operations Tony Wright, who has been leading the deal, will be seconded to Integreon from the start of June while the two parties undertake a three-month due diligence process.
Camerons plans to roll the model out across the full CMS network with all nine European firms expected to sign up within three to four years, according to managing partner Duncan Weston. The service will subsequently be made available to other law firms.
Outsourced functions will include IT, HR, finance, business development, communications, knowledge management, facilities management and administration services.
Weston said: “It’s one of the core pillars of our strategy. We hope that this is something that transforms the sector.
“The difference with this is that we’re the first firm to market a complete service platform for the industry.”
The partnership will see Camerons help Integreon develop its new service, although the firm will not put any equity into the project.
Wright added: “With the investment that comes from focusing on that as a core business we get a service that’s better than any back office law firm can deliver themselves.”
Last year, Osborne Clarke signed a similar agreement with Integreon that saw 75 back office staff move to the outsourcer, but the Camerons partnership is thought to be around ten times the size.
Integreon’s president of global sales John Croft said: “We’ve been building up to this moment for 10 years. One of the things we’ve found is that few law firms want to be the first to do things, but the way they’re structured we felt that change like this was inevitable.”
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Readers' comments (59)
Anonymous | 16-May-2010 12:32 pm
Three points:
1) The irony is that over the next four months the management want support to assist Integreon in developing this plan (as they do not have the blueprint for it yet) . At the end of the process a number of those involved will probably be made redundant.
2) On Friday morning you could hear the metaphorical sound of CVs being posted out. Who will be developing the plan then? Will the last person in support please turn off the lights.
3) To Gemma Harding above - After reading your comments, which seem to be devoid of any consideration for the staff involved and are maybe a touch of sour grapes , I think most other readers of your mail wouldn't touch your company with the proverbial dirty stick.
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 8:28 am
Outsource Duncan.
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Anon | 17-May-2010 8:38 am
To read self-serving comments by reps of the outsourcing industry professing to be objective, is utterly corrosive.
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 9:55 am
Not a good move. Presumably all their best support staff will upsticks and get jobs elsewhere in firms where they are appreciated. Their staff will feel cheated having dedicated their career to a firm and ending up working in a call centre. Camerons underestimate the importance of support staff integrating into a firm's work flow. They will realise their mistake when they require a flexible approach from support staff and all get is "computers says no".
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 10:57 am
An extremely depressing article and a hammer blow to the support functions at Camerons who already have a very low team morale.
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 12:23 pm
This is probably the worst idea I've ever heard. The support departments where I work (Magic Circle) are absolutely integral to everything the lawyers do. We have the best PAs, the best HR, the best print room, the best BD people, and the best finance people. They help us provide our competitive advantage and we could not function to the standard our clients expect without them. It is that simple.
The fact that Camerons see these services as being mere commodities probably says more about the standard of legal services that Camerons churn out than anything else.
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An Osborne Clarke employee outsourced to Integreon | 17-May-2010 12:25 pm
Speaking as someone who was outsourced from Osborne Clarke to Integreon, I have to say a lot of the negativity in these comments is unfounded. The service we provide has been completely restructured making for much quicker response times and first time fix for OC's fee earners, which of course allows them to concentrate on what they do best. The feedback we have had from them has been very positive.
The opportunities for us as Integreon employees are looking good too, as this CMS deal highlights. Of course morale took a hit when we first heard the news that we were transferring from OC but as time has passed most of us have settled well into our roles with Integreon and there is a great deal of optimism about that future holds.
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 2:48 pm
Is the above really from someone previously at Obornes? Funny that it is exact same comment as on Legal Week.
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Oriole Newgass | 17-May-2010 4:31 pm
It's distressing to see how many of the comments on this story are 'anonymous' - presumably these heartfelt & very apposite thoughts are coming mainly from people in line to be outsourced but currently still working in law firms. It sounds like the end of the line for legal support staff careers: I would love to know what (if anything!) the professional associations have said about it.
Quite sad to find yourself suddenly extinct - and unlike recent news about Britain's cod stocks, these people will not be coming back in significant numbers in the foreseeable future!
Oriole.
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Anonymous | 17-May-2010 4:32 pm
I guess this says something as to how Duncan views people. Does anyone recall him being nice to someone that did not have something he wanted?
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