Ashurst is expanding its alternative legal services offering to Australia, as the law firm prepares to launch a global delivery center in Brisbane in October.

The Brisbane legal services center, Ashurst's second such center globally after Glasgow, will provide low-cost legal services on document-intensive projects or recurring work for the firm's Australian offices and clients, the firm said in a statement. The center will include a team of six-to-eight nonqualified legal analysts, who will be part of the firm's global innovation research and development program—Ashurst Advance.

“The way we work with clients and one another has changed considerably and we want a globally consistent approach to service delivery that most effectively supports the practices and our business,” Jan Gooze-Zijl, Ashurst's chief financial and operations officer, said in a statement.

“Having [global delivery centers] operating in an integrated way across both Glasgow and Brisbane will help us achieve that objective,” said Gooze-Zijl.

Similar to the Glasgow center, the Brisbane center will also include a business services function. Starting in October, Ashurst will begin transitioning certain business services roles, such as IT and risk and compliance, from other Australian offices to the Brisbane office; the delivery center will move to a second location in Brisbane in the financial year commencing May 2019.

Richard Knox, Ashurst's head of human resources in Australia, said the firm is mindful of the impact on staff members and will be “fully supporting our people during this process.”

“Overall, this will be of great benefit to the firm and our clients as it is critical we innovate and adapt so we remain positioned for ongoing success,” Knox said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Ashurst hired back, from Fieldfisher, former partner Christopher Georgiou to co-lead Ashurst Advance, alongside partner Mike Polson, who helped launch the Glasgow center in 2013.

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