Cisco dumps panel for one-on-one with Eversheds

Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the internet, has launched a radical new legal model which has seen it drop all its UK law firms in favour of Eversheds.

Baker & McKenzie, Herbert Smith and Weil Gotshal & Manges have all missed out.

As first reported by The Lawyer (23 August 2004), Cisco is aiming to reinvent the famed DuPont Legal Model to get better value and an even closer relationship with its sole adviser.

Eversheds, which is also DuPont’s law firm of choice in the UK, has signed a three-year agreement with a fixed price negotiated every year. The firm will advise Cisco on all its routine corporate, commercial, licensing and procurement work. Only patent litigation escapes the net.

Eversheds has championed the partnering concept since winning the DuPont work in 1996. It has invested a great deal of time and money in developing the Cisco relationship.

The firm has placed a number of secondees with the company in an arrangement that will continue under the new contract. Eversheds will also share knowhow, provide training and install shared technology services.

The new model is the brainchild of Hans Albers, Cisco’s head of legal for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The concept fits nicely with Cisco’s overall business strategy. The networking company outsources all non-core functions wherever possible.

Cisco and Eversheds declined to comment.