America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007: Business Process Outsourcing
Chambers & Partners has compiled their independent and objective list of America's Leading Lawyers for Business based on comments gathered from thousands of interviews with clients and lawyers from Maine to Hawaii. This guide -- which is designed to reflect market opinion -- contains a view of the firms and attorneys who are considered leaders in their field.
In Chambers' 2007 review of national legal talent in the area of "Business Process Outsourcing," our Firm and our lawyers are listed among the best in the country.
Chambers' comments:
National Ranking: 2
The Firm: This practice is said to have "done a good job utilizing its client base, especially in the Midwest," with one commentator noting: "It's a powerhouse corporate firm which gets deal flow and important work from its institutional clients." Further praise was given to its technology expertise, particularly out of its Chicago office. Advising both service providers and customers on a range of ITO, HRO and F&A matters, it also has expertise in application process and application service provider outsourcings, and has been increasingly active in supply chain management work in recent times.
The Lawyers: Head of the firm's outsourcing practice group in Chicago, Gregg Kirchhoefer was noted for his long-standing experience in the field. He advised a utility on an outsourcing agreement that includes procurement, human resources, F&A, IT and customer care services, and also advised a specialty chemical company on a broad-based ITO. "Brainiac" Neil Hirshman was praised by clients for being "business-savvy and creative," in addition to being "one of those guys who not only knows the law, but the workings of the industry and current trends - he always knows what's going on." He advised a service provider client on the outsourcing of remittance and payment-processing services. He also advised an electronics company on the outsourcing of software development for critical portions of its key products. Head of the firm's San Francisco IP group, Stephen Johnson is "smart, polite, thorough" and "proactive but not pushy," clients say. Esteemed for his increasing supply chain management work, Johnson advised an IT customer with a facilities management outsourcing. In addition, he advised an automotive and transport customer on a transaction involving the outsourcing of Mexican, Brazilian and Japanese electronics manufacturing functions, the sale of foreign real estate and plant facilities, and a novel procurement services arrangement.
Clients/Work Highlights: Accenture; ACS; Altria; Emerald; Fortune Brands; Hewitt Associates; Morgan Stanley; News Corporation; ProLogis; Sun Microsystems; USG; Vertex Outsourcing; W.W. Grainger and Zebra Technologies.
Reprinted with permission from Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007 - www.chambersandpartners.com.
