Northern Ireland gains LPO first mover advantage
Northern Ireland’s growing reputation as a leading destination for legal process outsourcing (LPO) projects has been further strengthened with the recent announcement that Allen & Overy LLP - one of the world’s largest international law firms - is to locate a new support and legal services centre in Belfast.
The new operation is expected to create more than 300 jobs – including 60 legal posts - and will deliver a range of support functions such as financial, IT and HR management. It will also provide transaction support to legal teams servicing Allen & Overy clients based outside Northern Ireland. The firm has 36 offices in 26 countries and over 5,000 staff.
The announcement followed a significant development late last year when another leading international player - Herbert Smith - became the first top UK law firm to announce plans for an outsourcing operation in NI. The firm chose Belfast as the base for its new global dispute resolution centre. The 26 qualified lawyers and legal assistants working there will help the firm meet the increasing needs of clients in key markets outside Northern Ireland.
Herbert Smith works across a number of industry sectors and has particular strengths in dispute resolution and corporate law. Headquartered in London, it has offices in Asia, Europe and the Middle East through which it services a number of prominent international businesses.
These two recent arrivals are following in the footsteps of Citigroup (Citi) - a pioneer of legal and compliance near shoring in Northern Ireland. The company currently employs around 900 people in Belfast servicing the legal, operational and technology needs of its offices and clients around the world. In November, Citi announced that it intends to boost numbers further taking on an additional 500 staff across its technology, operations and legal and compliance divisions.
The investments by Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith point to profound and rapid changes sweeping through the legal profession around the world as a result of shifting business, economic and regulatory environments. Against this backdrop, a growing number of law practices are aiming to expand their global presence to broaden their client base while providing more cost-effective legal services and managing risk proactively. According to research conducted by the LPO Program, the global LPO market is expected to grow by 34 per cent in 2011. Corporate legal departments are expected to be the main drivers of this growth followed closely followed by UK-based law firms.
Due to the nature of the sector, unique considerations are involved in determining the optimal location for sourcing legal and legal support functions. And as recent investments show Northern Ireland is emerging as a region capable of providing a cost competitive yet high quality location strongly suited to legal services.
Allen & Overy, for example, evaluated 20 locations worldwide before deciding on Northern Ireland. The firm was strongly influenced by the talent available at local universities and by the support offered by Invest NI. Speaking at the announcement of the investment, Wim Dejonghe, Allen & Overy’s Global Managing Partner, said: "We believe Northern Ireland offers an excellent location from which to support our global operations. We are confident we can attract the calibre of staff needed to deliver the high quality services that are synonymous with the Allen & Overy name. "There is no doubt in my mind that our Support and Legal Services Centre will become strategically important to our business as we continue to strengthen our international presence."
Those views are echoed by Graeme Johnston, the Herbert Smith partner who led the team which made the decision to locate its operations in Belfast. "Before deciding to take this step, we considered a number of location options. Northern Ireland stood out for the great calibre of the available people, combined with cost competitiveness and geographical convenience,” said Mr Johnston.
Official statistics illustrate the quality and quantity of untapped legal talent available to companies locating in Northern Ireland. The region produces in excess of three times more graduates annually than there are places for in local law practices. Local legal education institutions include Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, both of which are officially ranked in the top 15 UK law schools. And because law and related legal vocations are highly regarded, the pipeline of legal talent is secure.
Dr Thomas Murphy, head of the School of Law at the University of Ulster, says the high quality of teaching at Northern Ireland’s two universities is guaranteed by a rigorous accreditation and validation process. “This involves frequent appraisals by senior academics from across the UK and Ireland and representatives of the main body responsible for ensuring the quality of law degrees for the profession in England and Wales. “At the University of Ulster we also place a strong emphasis on the need to train people for employment. This is reflected both in the mix of practitioner academics and researchers who teach our courses and in the recent introduction of a programme through which we now actively seek placements for a growing number of our students,” he adds.
The region’s suitability as an onshore destination for the delivery of legal services is reinforced by a number of other factors. It boasts significant cost savings over competing metropolitan locations such as London, Dublin and Edinburgh. In Northern Ireland, for example, salaries for paralegals start at GBP 15,000 a year, rising to around GBP 18,000 for newly qualified solicitors.
Says Jenny Young, Director Ireland, Invest NI - Northern Ireland’s economic development agency: “These recent LPO investments are very important to creating exciting new career opportunities for legal graduates in Northern Ireland who have traditionally had to emigrate to access such opportunities. As cost becomes more of an issue in legal services, we see a growing need for companies to find trusted locations without compromising on quality."
This article appeared in the March 2011 issue of Finance Dublin.
The new operation is expected to create more than 300 jobs – including 60 legal posts - and will deliver a range of support functions such as financial, IT and HR management. It will also provide transaction support to legal teams servicing Allen & Overy clients based outside Northern Ireland. The firm has 36 offices in 26 countries and over 5,000 staff.
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| Official statistics illustrate the quality and quantity of untapped legal talent available to companies locating in Northern Ireland. The region produces in excess of three times more graduates annually than there are places for in local law practices. Local legal education institutions include Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster, both of which are officially ranked in the top 15 UK law schools. And because law and related legal vocations are highly regarded, the pipeline of legal talent is secure. |
The announcement followed a significant development late last year when another leading international player - Herbert Smith - became the first top UK law firm to announce plans for an outsourcing operation in NI. The firm chose Belfast as the base for its new global dispute resolution centre. The 26 qualified lawyers and legal assistants working there will help the firm meet the increasing needs of clients in key markets outside Northern Ireland.
Herbert Smith works across a number of industry sectors and has particular strengths in dispute resolution and corporate law. Headquartered in London, it has offices in Asia, Europe and the Middle East through which it services a number of prominent international businesses.
These two recent arrivals are following in the footsteps of Citigroup (Citi) - a pioneer of legal and compliance near shoring in Northern Ireland. The company currently employs around 900 people in Belfast servicing the legal, operational and technology needs of its offices and clients around the world. In November, Citi announced that it intends to boost numbers further taking on an additional 500 staff across its technology, operations and legal and compliance divisions.
The investments by Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith point to profound and rapid changes sweeping through the legal profession around the world as a result of shifting business, economic and regulatory environments. Against this backdrop, a growing number of law practices are aiming to expand their global presence to broaden their client base while providing more cost-effective legal services and managing risk proactively. According to research conducted by the LPO Program, the global LPO market is expected to grow by 34 per cent in 2011. Corporate legal departments are expected to be the main drivers of this growth followed closely followed by UK-based law firms.
Due to the nature of the sector, unique considerations are involved in determining the optimal location for sourcing legal and legal support functions. And as recent investments show Northern Ireland is emerging as a region capable of providing a cost competitive yet high quality location strongly suited to legal services.
Allen & Overy, for example, evaluated 20 locations worldwide before deciding on Northern Ireland. The firm was strongly influenced by the talent available at local universities and by the support offered by Invest NI. Speaking at the announcement of the investment, Wim Dejonghe, Allen & Overy’s Global Managing Partner, said: "We believe Northern Ireland offers an excellent location from which to support our global operations. We are confident we can attract the calibre of staff needed to deliver the high quality services that are synonymous with the Allen & Overy name. "There is no doubt in my mind that our Support and Legal Services Centre will become strategically important to our business as we continue to strengthen our international presence."
Those views are echoed by Graeme Johnston, the Herbert Smith partner who led the team which made the decision to locate its operations in Belfast. "Before deciding to take this step, we considered a number of location options. Northern Ireland stood out for the great calibre of the available people, combined with cost competitiveness and geographical convenience,” said Mr Johnston.
Official statistics illustrate the quality and quantity of untapped legal talent available to companies locating in Northern Ireland. The region produces in excess of three times more graduates annually than there are places for in local law practices. Local legal education institutions include Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, both of which are officially ranked in the top 15 UK law schools. And because law and related legal vocations are highly regarded, the pipeline of legal talent is secure.
Dr Thomas Murphy, head of the School of Law at the University of Ulster, says the high quality of teaching at Northern Ireland’s two universities is guaranteed by a rigorous accreditation and validation process. “This involves frequent appraisals by senior academics from across the UK and Ireland and representatives of the main body responsible for ensuring the quality of law degrees for the profession in England and Wales. “At the University of Ulster we also place a strong emphasis on the need to train people for employment. This is reflected both in the mix of practitioner academics and researchers who teach our courses and in the recent introduction of a programme through which we now actively seek placements for a growing number of our students,” he adds.
The region’s suitability as an onshore destination for the delivery of legal services is reinforced by a number of other factors. It boasts significant cost savings over competing metropolitan locations such as London, Dublin and Edinburgh. In Northern Ireland, for example, salaries for paralegals start at GBP 15,000 a year, rising to around GBP 18,000 for newly qualified solicitors.
Says Jenny Young, Director Ireland, Invest NI - Northern Ireland’s economic development agency: “These recent LPO investments are very important to creating exciting new career opportunities for legal graduates in Northern Ireland who have traditionally had to emigrate to access such opportunities. As cost becomes more of an issue in legal services, we see a growing need for companies to find trusted locations without compromising on quality."
This article appeared in the March 2011 issue of Finance Dublin.