Eversheds has announced that it will be outsourcing almost 100 of its IT staff, "the bulk of its IT function," before the end of the year; those affected include the IT helpdesk, infrastructure teams, and IT training specialists. 

According to Legal Week:

"UK managing partner Bryan Hughes told Legal Week: "We want to do more than just keep the lights on. We are not a specialist IT firm and we have not got infinite resources [so] we could never be at the cutting edge of legal technology — but with an outside provider, we can."

"The shake-up follows a review of Eversheds’ IT function by newly-installed director Malcolm Simms, who joined the national firm last year from Disney, and makes Eversheds the first major UK law firm to outsource one of its core support divisions."

Hughes is surely right; IT support is not something Eversheds has any comparative advantage in providing, and they're best off leaving it to the experts.

Of course, in the US one of the more famous outsourcing strategies has been that of Orrick with its Global Operations Center in Wheeling, West Virginia. 

As the firm puts it:  "It houses Orrick's core technology, finance and human resource operations, as well as document and transcript production services."

This has led me to wonder what other firms might be doing, or contemplating, on this score.

Coincidentally, I'm currently working on a study of "best practices" and benchmarking among major North American law firms on the topic of how they handle their HR, administrative, and professional support functions—as well as how they handle the always-delicate tension between being lean and efficient, and delivering top-notch client and internal service.

To gather some data around the issue of benchmarks and best practices, I've put up an online survey, which I invite all of you familiar with how your firm is organized on the professional support staff side to take. 

What's in it for you?  Simple:  If you complete the survey, you can request a copy of the report I'll be writing summarizing the results—in other words, your own handy "Adam Smith, Esq."-generated paper enabling you to see how your firm stacks up.   But only if you take the survey.

It will be up through Labor Day and a bit beyond, but jump while you're thinking about it.  Again, the survey is here.  Thanks.