The project included migrating 80,000 old contracts onto a searchable database. As a result, the cost of researching non-standard terms was cut by 50 per cent. As well as involving many aspects of contracting, the transformation programme also focused on vendor cost management and internal staff development and training. Overall, the review 'improved budget predictability by 98 percent and reduced legal costs by more than 10 percent'. 

Firms rewarded

Aine Lyons, the deputy general counsel who ran the project, said: 'We did remove nearly half our panel firms for a variety of reasons, which was challenging. But the remaining firms provided the best and most cost-effective service for our needs, and those firms were rewarded with increased business.' The introduction of a consistent e-billing system led to the use of dashboards and more stringent reviews of billing activiites - 'particularly in the litigation space'. 

Interesting work for legal team

Talking of the internal legal team, general counsel Dawn Smith said: 'By focusing the team on interesting and challenging work that directly impacts the business, we achieved our goal of becoming a trusted advisor, while also encouraging career development for our team members.' Source: Association of Corporate Counsel