Morgan Lewis

Practice Description

The Morgan Lewis Global Outsourcing Group offers a highly specialized skill set, thoroughly integrated with the other legal practices that Morgan Lewis clients have traditionally relied on for more than 130 years. The Global Outsourcing Group draws on the specialized skills of its own members, all recognized leaders in this area, as well as the resources of every key Morgan Lewis practice group in Morgan Lewis' offices worldwide.

At Morgan Lewis, we help our clients use outsourcing as part of their business strategy. Although we have worked quite extensively with outsourcing suppliers, our primary focus is with the customer community. We work with our clients and with their other advisors to determine realistic objectives for the outsourcing, develop a set of business requirements that will meet those objectives and ultimately achieve a deal that reflects those business requirements.

If a typical outsourcing model is followed, a customer's ability to provide the outsourced services for itself is greatly diminished or gone. For that reason, we concentrate on these simple yet very important goals:

  • The contract must not leave the customer feeling out of control.
  • The outsourcing relationship must be flexible enough so that the business always drives the outsourced services.
  • The charges must always be predictable.
  • The impact of change should always be predictable.

The best way to make sure that a customer's outsourcing relationship will succeed is to keep the contract in mind during every phase of the acquisition process—from the first meetings with potential suppliers, through the RFP process and into contract negotiations. The Morgan Lewis team will be there with you every step of the way.

Who will be on your team

The Global Outsourcing Group includes lawyers in eight offices spanning the North American, European and Asia Pacific markets, making Morgan Lewis' Global Outsourcing Group one of the most globally diverse outsourcing practices in the world. When you invite our team to join yours, your team may include the lawyer who "wrote the book" on outsourcing, lawyers who are internationally recognized for their excellence in outsourcing and technology transactions, an adjunct professor at one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States, or perhaps the only lawyers who have been recognized by a leading industry trade publication as among the innovators and influencers most likely to effect positive change in the way customers buy technology.

Click to view a list of attorneys in the Global Outsourcing Group.
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Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO)

Information Technology is the backbone of modern business, and the corporate world is increasingly choosing to entrust this critical function to outsourcing providers. Although companies outsource IT for many different reasons, cost savings, improved service quality and processes, and a desire to focus on core competencies rank among the most common. Ironically, the inability to realize these objectives is the most common reason for failure.

Based on our experience and the success of our clients, we know that an appropriate contract is critical to a successful outsourcing—but not for the obvious reasons.

Requirements for an outsourcing contract to work:

For an outsourcing contract to work, it must reflect a relationship that will work. At its core, there are three requirements that must be met to have a successful relationship with an outsourcing supplier:

  • An outsourcing can only be successful if it is built on a solid relationship with known expectations.
  • The requirements for the outsourcing must be based on the requirements of the business without outsourcing in mind—ask the question: "What would I ask my own people to do?"
  • The executives delivering IT services to the business must never be hamstrung by the outsourcing.

We will help you approach your outsourcing from the very beginning with these requirements in mind. We have developed certain steps that we use during the sourcing process that are specifically designed to achieve these goals. We will help you get these goals into the relationship, and ultimately the contract, in a way that aligns the supplier's interests with yours.

Click to view representative transactions for Information Technology Outsourcing.
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Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can range from routine services arrangements for commodity functions to profoundly transformative partnerships that have the power to fundamentally change the way business is done. BPO can deeply affect an organization’s relationship with its customers, its suppliers and, perhaps most importantly, its employees.

BPO is taking a business process that an organization has run, that it owns, and that its customers or employees have come to rely upon, and entrusting it to a third party. The power of BPO is its ability to bring about tremendous financial and performance advantages. The heart of a successful BPO lies in achieving these financial and performance objectives while ensuring that the people most affected—internal and external customers, suppliers, employees—are protected and content. The good news is that with the right team working for you, these seemingly inconsistent goals are achievable.

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Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) provides an excellent example of Morgan Lewis' unique approach to BPO.

Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) often combines elements common to the other outsourcing disciplines. Heavily process dependent, HRO is clearly a BPO, yet there is very often a highly customized information technology component as well. There are substantial legal considerations, and at the heart of a human resources outsourcing is the production input that the business cares most about: its employees.

Like most outsourcings, its success or failure will depend upon achieving sustainable cost savings and efficiencies. Also like most outsourcings, special attention must be paid to customer-facing services. In this case, however, the "customers" are employees, and a failed HRO will affect those employees for a long time, in personal ways.

From the business's perspective, the benefits of the HRO must be measurable and consistent with the objectives sought in choosing to outsource these functions. It is fair to say that in many ways HRO magnifies the good attributes of BPO and intensifies the risks and pitfalls.

Getting an HRO right requires teamwork, clearly defined business objectives, a well-developed base case, and a good understanding of your suppliers' offering. Morgan Lewis can help your team get there.

Because we have been key players in some of the most innovative outsourcings in the industry, we understand the power of ideas. We understand the components of a successful long term outsourcing, and, more importantly, we know how to help our clients achieve these goals.

We also understand that every client is different, that every corporate culture is different, and that every outsourcing relationship is different. And it is in these differences that opportunity exists.

By embracing a number of ideals including: a deal culture that encourages learning from your suppliers as the deal progresses; adjusting requirements as opportunities present themselves; and allowing your suppliers to participate in a process that allows them to present positive differentiators, we will help you to develop the best outsourcing relationship possible. Such relationships allow you to achieve your objectives and have a contract at the end that will not go into a drawer, but will be the living, breathing embodiment of a productive dialogue, and represent the basis of your outsourcing relationship.

Click to view representative transactions for Human Resources Outsourcing.
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Outsourcing in the Life Sciences Industry

Morgan Lewis has experience with a full range of outsourcing transactions for life sciences clients ranging from start-up biotechnology firms to large multinational pharmaceutical companies to renowned research hospitals and scientific institutions. We have developed a national and international Life Sciences Practice composed of lawyers, scientists and technical specialists in all of our offices worldwide.

In addition to the traditional ITO and BPO, Morgan Lewis counsels its life sciences clients in the outsourcing of a wide variety of industry-specific processes, including:

  • Clinical trials and development
  • FDA documentation and submissions
  • Manufacturing and supply
  • Sales force and marketing

Click to view representative transactions for Life Sciences Outsourcing.
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Publications

Our Global Outsourcing Group professionals have published articles relating to the outsourcing industry for numerous leading publications, including:

  • Bank Systems & Technology
  • Bank Technology News
  • Baseline
  • Business Finance
  • CIO Magazine
  • Computer Law Reporter
  • Computerworld
  • eWeek
  • High-Tech Industry
  • HRO Today
  • Information Week
  • Internet World
  • Mergers & Acquisitions – The Dealmakers Journal
  • New York Law Journal
  • Optimize Magazine
  • PC Magazine
  • The Legal Intelligencer
  • The Pennsylvania Lawyer
  • Transform Magazine

As recognized experts in their field, Morgan Lewis outsourcing lawyers have published several books on technology and business process outsourcing transactions, including Information Technology Outsourcing: Process, Strategies, and Contracts (John Wiley, 2001) and Business Process Outsourcing: Process, Strategies, and Contracts (John Wiley, 2000). They have also lectured on outsourcing to various business, legal, and professional groups. Several of our Outsourcing partners have been consistently listed as recommended lawyers by Chambers USA: Americas Leading Lawyers for Business and Chambers Global.

Click to view publications by the Outsourcing Group.
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