TLT Engage Tackling the in-house overload

Transcription

1 TLT Engage Tackling the in-house overload

2 TLT Engage Tackling the in-house overload Dealing with high volumes of business-as-usual work while providing strategic oversight is a challenge for busy in-house legal teams in the financial services sector. The task is also not getting any easier. Caseloads are growing, fuelled by the broadening reach of regulations and regulatory jurisdiction across multiple industry sectors, not least financial services. This is driving major project work in the UK, such as bank ring-fencing and compliance change programmes. The expanding volume of work has also been compounded by the proliferation of data, increasing emphasis on corporate transparency and a greater awareness of issues affecting the public, such as swaps mis-selling, the vehicle emissions scandal, data privacy breaches and LIBOR benchmark rigging. In response, in-house legal teams continue to grow but there remains a long tail of risk driven by legal resource constraints and costs challenges, particularly in a lowgrowth economic environment. Managing the workload To help manage workflows, a growing number of businesses are choosing to outsource this type of work, or elements of it, to private practice. There are clear advantages. It can free in-house teams to focus on strategic matters. A focused external legal support with a structured and consistent approach can also bring critical additional benefits, including: Trend analysis: identifying trends and patterns not immediately apparent to an in-house team, because that team is likely to be spread across projects or offices. Early risk identification: identifying emerging threats in a work portfolio, drawing on experience to substantiate these or put them in context. Development of consistent strategies: applying knowledge acquired across all cases and helping to develop ways to deal with emerging threats and issues. Neutralising the effect of fluctuating work levels: an outsourcing partner can flex resources to meet changing work volumes, through well rehearsed on-boarding processes that ensure additional resources are quickly assimilated into client teams. Flexibility of cost models: there are many fee structure options including fixed price models, ones that vary with volume and complexity and hybrids of the two. By choosing the one that suits you, you can balance your appetite for risk with the need for certainty. What type of work is suitable? Generally, any business-as-usual work is suitable. In our experience, it involves a range of issues which, although often legally complex, can be mapped to a process with appropriately selected levels of resource and oversight designed to deliver swifter, more consistent and cost-effective results. A typical example of this work is complaints and claims associated with a particular product or issue. Most recently, TLT has supported on issues ranging from mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), asset finance recovery and the Consumer Credit Act, to allegations of mis-sold financial products. Every business faces different pressure points. It is important to consider carefully at the outset what is outsourced and what is best managed in-house. This is just part of the advance preparation essential to any project and something an experienced outsourcing partner can support with. Caseloads are growing, fuelled by the broadening reach of regulations and regulatory jurisdiction across multiple industry sectors...

3 Getting started Developing a strong partnership with your outsourced service provider at the outset is critical. They need to understand your objectives and how they will help you to achieve them. In our experience, there are several key areas to deal with at the start: Objectives: being clear what you are trying to achieve by outsourcing work is crucial. Clarity around your objectives, for example saving cost, improving turnaround times or allowing the in house team(s) to focus on strategic issues, means your provider will know where to focus. Close monitoring of objectives, risk mitigation and postimplementation review are some of the ways to ensure that you achieve these objectives. Scope: deciding what is in and out of scope is essential, whether that scope is based on certain types of claim, claims up to a certain value or categories of risk. Similarly, you should consider whether matters already with external legal advisers are included immediately, when they reach a particular stage or not at all. This determines volumes, which informs both parties on the potential impact on resources. It also, of course, impacts on price. Developing a strong partnership with your outsourced service provider at the outset is critical. Impact on people: outsourcing work will impact the roles and priorities of the in-house team. The outsourcing should free up expertise to focus on strategic work. It may also mean redeploying or restructuring elements of the team. This aspect must be carefully managed. Depending on the nature of the project, there may be legal requirements to consider such as TUPE, or union, collective and individual consultation. Your appetite for risk: using outsourced services is a new step for many, so caution is normal. You need to be comfortable that the project will deliver what you expect. This is important where an inhouse team trusts the supplier with their internal business clients. There will be a need to balance the demands of higher levels of delegated authorities and concern over loss of control. Generally speaking, higher levels of delegated authority can lead to greater cost efficiency. But, taking an initially conservative approach, then growing in remit as confidence builds, is often the preferred approach. Resourcing the project: the right mix of senior sponsor and operational stakeholder commitment from the outset is vital to the project s success. As well as the right mix of representation from your legal team(s), your IT and HR functions are likely to want to contribute too. The IT bit: Thinking early about issues such as security, how complete, accurate and wellstructured your matter data is, how it will be provided to your supplier and whether you want to use any technology to collaborate with them, will impact on the work and, possibly, the timescale.

4 Transitioning work to an outsourced provider For those who decide to look at outsourcing, the transition phase is a crucial one to plan and manage. This will impact in the context of existing or in flight matters and the change from current to new methods. It requires an open dialogue and will cover a variety of issues including: Project management: specialist legal project managers can assist with the transition from in house to an outsourced service while assisting you manage the transition throughout. Your data: the accuracy and quality of your matter data is critical because it will be used to gauge the value, nature and complexity of the workload. This will determine the resources needed to do the work and therefore base pricing. Scope: prepare a definitive list of the types of matter that will be in scope and those that will be out of scope. Cost: decide on the appropriate mechanism that gives you the degree of predictability you need. Project plans and governance: with transition plans in place and the right project governance, everyone will understand their role and have confidence that stakeholders, risks and issues are actively managed; that communication plans are followed and that the focus goes beyond delivery to lessons learnt and benefits realisation. Clear processes: any delegation of responsibility, internally or externally, needs a well-understood process to be efficient and effective. We advise that current processes are mapped and future processes are designed jointly to identify all potential issues. They will cover instructions, use of delegated authorities, exceptions, matter handling and closure. Where a client does not have the existing maps, your provider can work with operational stakeholders or autonomously to prepare processes for verification. Ultimately, a process walk through to test a transitional matter and a new instruction will ensure that the new process is clear and fit for purpose. Developing standard documentation: having standard forms of instructions, checklists and other documentation, whether generic or for specific matter types, will provide consistency and help your team to get accustomed to new ways of working more quickly. Service levels and KPIs: knowing which elements of service and performance are most important to you; for example speed, accuracy, risk or value assessment; will help develop service level agreements and key performance indicators that are relevant and provide meaningful transparency. How much and how often you want to hear from your provider: having the level of control you want to retain and what events you want to know about in a matter lifecycle will help develop reporting triggers and delegated authorities. Management information and reporting: whilst existing MI reports are a useful starting point, you should evaluate what MI you need under a changed regime. Relationship management and added value: regular structured meetings will ensure that the service is reviewed, continuous improvement plans are made and added value deliverables, such as trend and risk analysis, are provided regularly and developed to meet changing requirements. A good provider will provide consultancy advice and make recommendations on all of the above. Once implemented, an outsourcing project should mean work that is managed securely to a high, costeffective standard and within a robust framework. It should also return time and valuable information back into the business. The accuracy and quality of your matter data is critical.

5 TLT Engage: an outsourcing solution TLT Engage is an outsourcing solution for in house teams helping to alleviate the impact of business-asusual work or repeat activities. We provide competitive rates with a range of options including fixed retainers and fixed and capped fees whilst maintaining the highest standards of governance and risk control. We are able to offer this because of our industry knowledge and experience of how to make an outsourced solution work effectively. Working alongside in-house teams, we provide an experienced team of lawyers, project managers, process designers and IT specialists to help in-house teams manage their workload more efficiently. We ll work as a virtual extension of your organisation from the start of the project, providing: Scoping Planning Process design Project management Governance & Oversight Risk management and identification IT integration Final delivery of the outsourced product. We can manage outsourced work of a wide ranging nature. Examples of outsourcing projects we have worked on to date are: Real estate portfolio management Defence of mis-selling claims Payment Protection Insurance claims Section 75 claims under the Consumer Credit Act. Pre action complaints support Data Subject Access Requests Payments by mistake HR issues For more information, please contact: Jonathan Hoey Banking and Financial Services Litigation Head Deborah Sheldon Banking and Financial Services Litigation Partner Richard Hayllar Banking and Financial Services Litigation Partner T: +44 (0) E: Jonathan.hoey@TLTsolicitors.com T: +44 (0) E: Deborah.sheldon@TLTsolicitors.com T: +44 (0) E: Richard.hayllar@TLTsolicitors.com

6 We are able to offer this because of our industry knowledge and experience of how to make an outsourced solution work effectively.

7 TLT LLP tltsolicitors.com/contact Belfast Bristol Edinburgh Glasgow London Manchester Piraeus TLT LLP, and TLT NI LLP (a separate practice in Northern Ireland) operate under the TLT brand and are together known as TLT. Any reference in this communication or its attachments to TLT is to be construed as a reference to the TLT entity based in the jurisdiction where the advice is being given. TLT LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales number OC whose registered office is at One Redcliff Street, Bristol, BS1 6TP. TLT LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under ID In Scotland TLT LLP is a multinational practice regulated by the Law Society of Scotland.