Bird and Bird has signed a second major client to its Virtual General Counsel service, with the remote offering now covering all areas of legal advice for IT company Ntegra.

The long-term contract will see Virtual GC project leader Howard Rubin act as GC for the company, working remotely using Bird & Bird resources. Ntegra had no in-house capability prior to the agreement with Bird & Bird.

Bird & Bird's initiative was first made available in 2012, offering to cut companies' spending on full-time in-house legal teams by having a partner at the firm allocate work amongst its fee earners, who pick up briefs depending on their specialisms.

In June 2012, Two Birds signed up games developer Codemasters to the service, the first client to use the remote legal provision for the entirety of its legal work. The scheme helped the firm win the recent Financial Times Innovative Lawyers award for Most Innovative Law Firm in Client Service.

Rubin is currently the only partner on the Virtual GC project, though he told Legal Week that other partners, mainly outside the UK, were interested in the service. The Virtual GC management team current involves around 10 associates plus some specialist lawyers.

"It's very easy working with colleagues in other offices," said Rubin. "I create a team of people who service the client, who are point men, but then manage the work internally."

Bird & Bird is currently in discussions with a US company with the hope of signing up its first stateside client to the service. It also hopes to add another UK based company in the near future.

"It's a great opportunity," continued Rubin. "I think the strategy of the service is in two parts; one is international, the other is being able to form a close relationship with the client. The service will be very powerful for US companies with only a small presence in Europe and Asia."

Bird & Bird started pushing the service to US clients last summer.

"It can be a difficult concept to sell," said Rubin. "It's about convincing clients they are good to go when there's always the fear that legal fees will get in the way of getting the advice."