Kennedys and Farrer & Co have become the latest law firms to address their outsourcing arrangements as firms continue to grapple with the issue of back office costs.

Kennedys has signed a three-year deal to outsource library services to Integreon, while Farrer & Co has put pen to paper on a new five-year deal with administrative support outsourcer Intelligent Office.

From 1 May, Integreon took control of Kennedys' information services team, which is largely responsible for the firm's library. The move has seen five employees transfer to the outsourcing provider's City base.

Kennedys said Integreon was able to offer the transferring staff better career prospects as well as enabling the firm to call upon a larger specialised unit to meet its growing needs. No staff were made redundant as a result of the deal.

Kennedys chief executive Guy Stobart (pictured) said: "The driver behind this review is the requirement to have a scalable and first class service to meet our growth aspirations. A key element in the selection of Integreon, and the planning of the transition, was that jobs were not lost and staff would continue to work nearby."

Meanwhile, Farrers has extended its contract with Intelligent Office to provide managed services, including print, front of house, archiving, mailroom and records management.

The arrangement, which builds on a partnership first formed in 2007, also sees IO support Farrer's facilities teams and goods procurement.

"We're very good at recruiting quality fee-earners but we're just not in the market to support an increasing range of back office services," said Ben Bennett, partner and chief operating officer at Farrer. "Intelligent Office has helped achieve this aim, turning our back office into a more effective, streamlined and professional operation."

Intelligent Office said its partnership with Farrer to date had resulted in a reduction in administrative costs per fee-earner of 17%.

Last week, the firm announced it had made nine people redundant, following a consultation round started in January. Those affected included one fee earner, two professional support lawyers, three secretaries and six business services staff, though the firm would not say which roles were lost.

The news comes after CMS Cameron McKenna annouced it was scaling back its back office outsourcing agreement with Integreon, shortly after Osborne Clarke confirmed it was reducing the scope of its own agreement with the outsourcer.