Outsourcing boutique 
radiant.law has scooped up a lead role on a £1.4bn outsourcing project for financial services group Friends Life to the UK subsidiary of India's Tata Consultancy Services, Diligenta.

The boutique, which was created early this year by a group of breakaway partners from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Latham & Watkins and Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), advised Diligenta on the mandate.

Former MoFo outsourcing partner David Skinner led the radiant.law team advising on the 15-year agreement, which will see Friends Life transferring half of the IT and customer services functions of its UK Heritage business to Diligenta. When the deal goes live in 2012 Diligenta will provide insurance administration and IT services to Friends Life from sites in UK and India.

Norton Rose advised Friends Life on the deal, fielding a team under technology & innovation head Mike Rebeiro and fellow partner Maria Ross. The bulk of the negotiations were led by senior associate James Russell, with support from of counsel Marcus Evans.

MoFo's Skinner has previously advised Abbey Life, RSA, Sun Life of Canada, Old Mutual and Phoenix on outsourcing deals. He said: "Since this was a very complex transaction, Diligenta required experienced lawyers who understood all the pricing, regulatory and performance aspects for this type of transaction and could help protect it from the major commercial, legal and 
regulatory risks."

Radiant.law, which launched in January, was formed with the intention of creating a practice that would bill primarily on a fixed-price basis rather than using hourly rates.