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.”
View results 10 per page | 20 per page | 50 per page |
Readers' comments (59)
footie tastic | 18-May-2010 11:49 am
On the subject of football, the only decent team left at Camerons where lawyers and support staff work together is its football team.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 18-May-2010 12:38 pm
I've just seen the internal video Duncan Weston released to Cameron McKenna about his intentions. In a two minute video I've never seen so many cuts - he could barely string 2 sentences together without having to pause and shoot the next bit. Dreadful presentation. Frankly,I think Mr Cholmondley-Warner of Harry Enfield fame could produce a better video!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 18-May-2010 1:21 pm
The biggest issue in many businesses is the lack of respect that they have for their employees, at whatever spot in the organization. Someone is useful one day and then deemed useless the next. Dunky is not unusual in this respect. Which of course means less loyalty all the way around.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Oh No | 18-May-2010 2:26 pm
Phew. Thank goodness the person who negotiated the disasterous Moscow joint venture (snatching losses from the jaws of profitability) is overseeing the transition to Integreon. What a relief.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 18-May-2010 3:08 pm
It's very sad and short sighted. They will end up regretting this. Did they not hear how badly the outsourcing of Recruitment at Freshfields went??! They still haven't recovered. This is a big mistake.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 18-May-2010 7:34 pm
Tell me this is just a bad Spaghetti Weston, but at £600m for 200 staff its not so cheap. These must be the best paid support staff in the city? Let's see what unravels.....
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 19-May-2010 10:15 am
Job no 1 for the newly outsourced PR dept: deal with fallout from disastrous-sounding outsourcing move by short-termist, money-grubbing partners.
Job no 2: find new job at law firm that values its staff.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 19-May-2010 1:25 pm
Why not:
Job no 1: find new job at law firm that values its staff and forget the rest.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 19-May-2010 5:10 pm
After listening to Mr Croft at a recent seminar, it's clear that Acronyms will be top of the agenda. We've got SMILE (Spreading Magic and Love Everywhere), SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Framed - Do me a favour!) among i'm sure many others. So in keeping with US agenda....For me Integreon at Camerons = CRAP (Career Review Action Plan)
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 19-May-2010 10:12 pm
Shafted after 20+ years!!!!!!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment