Legal Advisory Outsourcing (LAO)

We provide large corporations with a high quality, fixed priced and proven alternative to using traditional law firms and/or growing the size of their in-house legal function. Using client dedicated teams which combine lawyers, client managers, data analysts and other professionals, all employed by Riverview Law, we help free the internal legal team to focus on higher value added strategic and tactical requirements.

LAO is applicable to the 60%-70% of legal work that large businesses do week-in, week-out, month-in, month-out that can be packaged into long-term managed service arrangements; from commercial contract and obligation management, through litigation and employment to IP, patents and property. Organisations buy our LAO solutions for different reasons; fixed priced, lower cost, dedicated to client teams, comprehensive management information (MI). As one customer observed “I didn’t realise that I’d bought the ‘tip of the iceberg’.”

This is why our strapline is ‘Legal input. Business output.’ This approach has a profound impact on the way we recruit, the people we employ and our induction, reward and measurement processes. It is reflected in our implementation model which helps us become a seamless part of the customer team. It is demonstrated by the way we use management information and data to help our customers. It’s why our Moments of Truth philosophy underpins everything we do.

What you can expect as a customer

Our customers tell us that it feels very different working with us because we become part of their team. That’s our objective, to be a partner not a supplier. As a result we invest significantly in our customer relationships. The discussions that come out of the management information we capture enable us to knit together so much more closely with our customers, to build up a picture as to why certain activities are happening and how we can pre-empt them. Our entire model is built from the customer up.

Why do businesses buy our LAO solutions?

One of the key reasons that General Counsel buy our LAO solutions is because we have been able to prove that we can integrate more effectively with their team than other providers can. Why? Because we invest. We dedicate teams to accounts. We combine legal, operational, IT and client management skills into one team. Because we spend time understanding the legal and business requirements of our customers and using management information and trend data to provide business insight.

Using management information and trend data to reduce cost and pre-empt risk

Pretty quickly in a new managed service contract the focus moves from quality, because it's good, to how we can help our customers use the management information (MI) and trend data we generate to provide them with business insight. This is not just activity and volumetric data which tells you what is happening, how much of it is happening and what the trends are. It is MI and data that goes to the root cause of issues and then helps pre-empt them, improve operational performance, reduce future risk and lower costs.

What is Legal Advisory Outsourcing (LAO)?

Legal Advisory Outsourcing (LAO) covers the 60-70% of legal work that large organisations do every day of the week, every week of the month, every month of the year that can be sensibly packaged into long-term managed services contracts. LAO frees the internal legal team to focus on the more complex strategic and tactical matters. LAO is not rocket science, it is just very well executed, delivered by highly talented people and underpinned by effective systems, comprehensive reporting and a customer focused culture.

How do we implement LAO contracts?

The implementation process is one of our big Moments of Truth with a client. We over-resource this phase to make sure that the service goes live seamlessly and that there is no mismatch in expectation between us and the customer as to who is doing what, what behaviours we're trying to drive and what the desired outcomes are. The implementation journey starts with a detailed scoping exercise led by our project, workflow, IT and legal experts and runs through to the customer signing off the service as in the 'business-as-usual' phase.

Becoming a seamless part of your in-house team

'Outsourcing’ is a really interesting word because it implies that it is detached in some way; but nothing could be further from the truth. We're as closely integrated into the businesses that we serve as you could possibly be. One of our core competencies is assembling the right teams for the managed serviced contracts we have. Because our teams are dedicated to accounts we're very good at becoming a seamless part of the in-house function. Our teams spend time in our customer’s offices and our customers teams spend time in our offices.

The reaction of customers when they visit Riverview Law

It is really gratifying that when GCs and their teams visit they invariably go away impressed, which is what we would want. More importantly they go away understanding the art of the possible, understanding what can now be done in the legal market. They are hugely impressed by the people, the technology, the structure and the culture. They meet our people and experience our culture, and that is what always makes them leave with that positive glow. It’s all about culture.

Beyond panels: The move to managed service contracts

Our approach to legal services has been described as innovative and market disrupting. We take a slightly different view. We don't think we're doing anything particularly clever. We're just combining the best practice currently available in the legal market with relevant business models and customer service approaches proven elsewhere. A good example of this is our 'Legal Advisory Outsourcing - Beyond Panels' model. At first glance it may seem radical. In practice it isn't. As one General Counsel said to us "it's so obvious why hasn't anyone else done it?".

Cometh the hour

Post lunch with a senior partner in a law firm, the Finance Director of a large corporation turns the conversation to the pricing of a big legal project she is about to start. She wants a fixed price for the work. The ensuing discussion is ‘interesting’ and entertaining…

Our Moments of Truth programme

You can have the best people, processes and systems in the world but the key is the culture underpinning this. Our culture is driven by Moments of Truth, a concept that is easy to understand both internally and externally and by all other Riverview Law stakeholders. Moments of Truth ensures that we all have responsibility for making sure that our customers, team members and other stakeholders are delighted every time they interact with us.

Our Values

Individual

We all have a unique set of skills, experience and opinions. This is why we were recruited. When at work we can be who we are. We can be ourselves. We are encouraged to show our individuality and personality and this contributes to the culture, environment and success of Riverview Law.

Enthusiastic

We are encouraged to challenge ourselves, try new things and embrace change. While we work hard we understand how important it is to have fun and not to take ourselves too seriously. There is a life, community and world beyond Riverview Law and we are enthusiastically part of it.

Inquisitive

We are keen to learn. We love asking questions and listening to the answers. We want to understand what drives our customers and their businesses and how we can help them. We ask why we do things the way we do and then improve them if we can.

Professional

We do not compromise in delivering high quality advice, solutions and all those Moments of Truth that make a difference to colleagues, customers and other stakeholders. We act with integrity and are proud of what we do, the role we play in supporting each other and our customers and in shaping the legal profession.

Positive

We are encouraged to be proactive and to share our ideas and opinions. We offer our thoughts constructively so that we can move forward. We treat other people with respect. We are committed to positively impacting our colleagues, our business, our customers businesses and the wider community.

One Team

We work together towards the same goals. We communicate clearly, openly and honestly. We trust and respect each other. We understand that we have individual and collective responsibilities. In short, while we are individuals we know that when we work as a team there is no limit to what we can achieve!