Rio Tinto Signs Legal Services Outsourcing Agreement With CPA Global
SOURCE: Press Release
DATE: June 18th, 2009
Rio Tinto today announced that it has entered into a legal services outsourcing agreement with CPA Global that is projected to save Rio Tinto up to 20% annually in legal costs.
Under the agreement, CPA Global, one of the world’s leading providers of outsourced legal support services, are providing a team of lawyers in India to support Rio Tinto’s in-house legal function on a global basis.
Initially, the work undertaken by CPA Global includes contract review (http://www.cpaglobal.com/legal_process_outsourcing/contract_management) and drafting, legal research (http://www.cpaglobal.com/legal_process_outsourcing/legal_research), and document review. However, it is anticipated that the scope of work will expand to cover other routine legal services work traditionally handled in-house by Rio Tinto or shared amongst the company’s panel of law firms.
Rio Tinto’s managing attorney, Leah Cooper, said: “We took a long hard look at our internal costs and the amount we were spending with outside counsel and saw an opportunity to make significant changes to the way we deliver legal services to the group. We have developed a ground-breaking legal model with CPA Global that will generate tremendous savings and serve the business without compromising quality.
“By shifting work to CPA Global our internal team will be freed up to get involved in some of the more complex and challenging legal matters, which in the past might have been sent to outside counsel at significant cost.
“As more of our standard legal work is filtered though to CPA Global, we will have more time to lift our heads up from the day-to-day reactive delivery of legal services and focus on being more proactive. We will have more time to spend with the business, develop stronger relationships and understand what we can do to prevent legal issues developing in the first place with a stronger focus on prevention rather than cure.”
Chris Veator, CPA Global’s Executive Vice President, Legal Support Services (http://www.cpaglobal.com/legal_process_outsourcing), said: “We are delighted to have been appointed as Rio Tinto’s legal services outsourcing partner. Rio Tinto have really done their homework on this and recognized that there is a better, more cost efficient way of structuring your legal services work, without sacrificing quality or security.”
Bhaskar Bagchi, CPA Global’s Country Head – India, added: “CPA Global’s India team will serve as an extension of Rio Tinto’s internal legal department. They are handpicked, well trained legal professionals who will work on a whole range of Rio Tinto legal matters from across the globe.”
