Friday, February 11, 2011

A&O Transfers Support Roles to Belfast

Allen & Overy (A&O) ­announced last week that it is transferring 180 support roles to Belfast, Ireland. A&O will initially transfer 18 members of support staff to Belfast to deliver IT, HR, finance, business services and library functions from a single site, The Lawyer reports, and the legal services center will take on some routine legal work. As many as 250 support roles could be based in the city by 2014, with total headcount including fee-earners potentially reaching 300.

The implications of A&O’s onshoring initiative are still being sorted out, particularly in light of Herbert Smith’s announcement of a Belfast-based captive center last year. Due to the growing interest in onshore legal outsourcing, we are planning to feature this topic in our newsletter this month. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter by e-mailing forefront@fronterion.com.