Leveraging Outside Vendors in a Changing Legal Landscape

Richard Reade, UK General Counsel, ISS, United Kingdom

Due to economic realities, in-house counsel are being forced to address greater risk exposure and mounting legal requirements, using notably reduced resources. In the drive to do more with less, in-house counsel are changing their relationships with their outside counsel and leveraging a number of innovative strategies to deliver high-value legal services to their organizations. With the upcoming implementation of the Legal Services Act, in-house counsels based in the UK have more options than ever to meet their legal needs. One of the most compelling options is leveraging outside and offshore vendors for legal and legal support services. A number of other innovative alternative delivery models are also becoming increasingly popular.

Richard Reade is General Counsel in the UK of ISS. Reade commenced his legal outsourcing operation in August 2008, which has featured in a publication and at training conferences. The innovative sourcing process implemented by Reade has been nominated for a prestigious legal award.

ISS is a facility services company and the 5th largest private employer in the world with over 450,000 employees worldwide (43,000 in the UK). ISS is rated the 7th best outsourcing company in the world and is the largest provider of cleaning services in the world and, generally, one of the largest provider of facility services.