Outsourcing

Strategic sourcing arrangements offer significant opportunities to our clients (whether customers or suppliers), but also carry risk. We provide legal advice with an emphasis on commercial solutions that help clients maximise those opportunities and minimise the risks.

We advise on technology outsourcing including infrastructure, desktop, application and application support as well as more general business transformation outsourcing including business process, knowledge process, manufacturing, telecoms and facilities management outsourcing. We also advise on a number of other types of innovative sourcing including co-sourcing, multi-sourcing, offshoring and insourcing.

We work closely with specialists in each relevant practice area including financial regulation, tax, employment and pensions, competition and regulatory, dispute resolution and commercial real estate as the need arises.

As well as advising on new arrangements, we have assisted a number of clients on the re-evaluation and renegotiation of current outsourcing arrangements. Our work includes the preparation of agreements, that are flexible, operationally relevant and intended as practical manuals to last the full term of the deal. We advise on a range of matters from pure contractual issues to strategy and relationship management issues.

If a relationship does run into difficulty, we also offer advice both before any formal dispute has arisen and, where relevant, after proceedings have been issued. We work closely with our clients to develop a negotiation and litigation strategy and have strong experience of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, as well as arbitration and court proceedings in a large number of jurisdictions. 

Our outsourcing team was recognised as a leader in its field by the outsourcing industry's leading trade body, winning the National Outsourcing Association ("NOA") 'Outsourcing Adviser of the Year 2007' award for best practice in outsourcing. This achievement reflects the NOA's recognition of our unique approach to supporting outsourcing transactions and since winning the award we have continued to develop our best practice approach.