C5 Conference Wrap-up

While a bit thinly attended in comparison to previous events in London, the C5 Legal Process Outsourcing conference was certainly a success in terms of discussion and speaker caliber.

One high point was the discussion on captive delivery centers led by three very knowledgeable men who are involved in the field of outsourcing. These included Evangelos Apostolou (BT Vice President and Chief Counsel APAC who established and managed the BT legal outsourcing captive in Delhi – including the recent transfer to UnitedLex), Mark Ford (director of the Clifford Chance Knowledge Centre), and Paul Rawlinson (Global Chair of Baker & McKenzie’s IP Practice who oversees Baker & McKenzie’s global delivery of IP services).

A key theme arising from the discussions was the perspective that LPO is one of a suite of cost saving measures available to general counsel. Of the conferences that I have attended, the C5 conference provided the most insight into the in-house legal teams’ outsourcing perspective (both to LPO’s and their outside counsel). Prominent general counsel speaking at the event included Richard Reade of ISS, Richard Tapp of Carillion, David Symonds of Tyco, Stephan Regius of Borealis AG, Pavel Klimov of Unisys, and previously mentioned Apostolou of BT.

The smaller event size allowed for some highly interactive and insightful discussions on issues ranging from pricing, oversight responsibilities, day-to-day challenges of managing global service delivery and ethical issues surrounding outsourced legal services.

My thanks go out to all of the speakers at the event for sharing their insights, to C5 for the privilege of chairing the conference proceedings, and to all participated who made the event a fruitful one.