Outsourcers speak at magic circle firm's event about commoditisation trend

Allen & Overy (A&O) has launched a new service to give its relationship firms access to magic circle level support functions, in a push to strengthen ties in jurisdictions including Libya and Scotland.

The magic circle firm launched the initiative at its fifth annual global relationship conference earlier this month, with firms in its informal relationship network offered access to its services in areas including IT, training, marketing and finance. 

The event saw the firm host representatives from more than 140 relationship firms across 94 countries, with 11 new jurisdictions represented for the first time this year – Scotland, Libya, Paraguay, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guernsey, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Zambia.

About a quarter of firms that attended have requested the service so far, with significant take-up from firms in smaller jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, delegates from three outsourcing providers – Integreon, Pangea3 and QuisLex – attended the event for the first time.

A&O Frankfurt global markets partner Stephen Denyer, who oversees the conference, said: "We have our own operations in Belfast, but we work with leading outsourcing firms. This year we invited three of them to participate as they offer an interesting insight for firms in our network, to see how trends such as commoditisation are spreading across the profession. 

"It also makes sense for us to keep nurturing the relationships we have with them, as it's about having all options available to clients, not just our Belfast offering."

The firm's Belfast (pictured) operation, which launched in 2011, provides a mix of core support service processes such as elements of finance, HR, IT, marketing, business development and communications.

Earlier this year A&O made up to 43 back office redundancies across its New York and European offices, as part of the transfer of support roles from its international network to Belfast.