Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) made an ‘offensive move’ against the much-hyped threat of the Big Four on legal operations consulting with the hire of the well-regarded former Barclays head of external engagement, Stéphanie Hamon (pictured).
Hamon, who quit the bank earlier this year, joins as a fee-earner in August to head the new practice and help ‘in-house departments function like a business’.
NRF’s new practice aims to both assist companies set up a legal operations function and help those which already have one on specific projects. It will initially target UK clients, but is open to expanding into continental Europe, Australia and the US.
Part of the firm’s innovation programme, NRF Transform, the new practice will also operate with no hourly rates and Hamon told Legal Business NRF’s openness to alternative fee arrangements was a main factor in her joining.
‘There is a growing need in the market for legal operations advice and there are not many people delivering it,’ said Hamon. ‘The good thing about my position at Barclays was that I was meeting with all law firms and suppliers. NRF quickly became the front-runner because of their forward thinking strategy. They want to service clients in a more holistic way.’
She added: ‘If you ask ten people what legal ops is, you will get ten different answers. In my view it is all that helps [GCs] run their legal department like a business. Some companies already have legal ops teams, but the level of maturity can be very different.’
A long-time supporter of reshaping law firm-client relationships, during her three years at Barclays, Hamon led the bank’s move to phase out conventional legal panels in favour of a system of ongoing management of its legal counsel from mid-2021.
Hamon would not specify how many people will form her new practice beyond saying it was still very much in a ‘start-up mindset’ and would initially draw on existing resources within the firm before recruiting.
She commented: ‘It is more an offensive move than a defensive move: if the Big Four can move from consulting into legal advice, why can’t a law firm move from legal advice into consulting?’