Leader
Law firms are gearing up to provide managed services deals for clients but the high-profile BT/DWF partnership will not trigger a flood of similar arrangements
Contributors
It’s not often a FTSE 100 GC and a law firm offer themselves up to the media to discuss a deal. Even panel review stories rarely elicit comment beyond a few contrived lines about ‘innovation’, ‘alignment’ and ‘deeper relationships’. So when BT legal chief Sabine Chalmers and DWF arranged conference calls in the summer to announce a five-year managed services contract, it was difficult to not get caught up in the (relative) excitement. True, BT had spent more than a year assessing dozens of potential providers and DWF was talking up its first major post-IPO client win, but the mood music was quite catchy: ‘Law firms are going through a period of tremendous transformation’ proclaimed Chalmers, ‘It’s an incredible opportunity,’ gushed DWF’s managed services head Mark St John Qualter.
But are they? Is it?
