Clifford Chance (CC) aims to save £30 million by transferring 300 business service jobs to India, it emerged this week.

The world's largest law firm, which saw profits per partner rise by 25% to £814,000 in the last financial year, told staff in a memo of the proposal to offshore some of its global financial and IT services to a CC office in Delhi. An employee consultation will take place before the plans are finalised.


Since 2005, the firm has outsourced some of its document production to a centre in Mumbai, India, as part of its drive to bring costs down. A spokeswoman said it was too early to say which offices will be affected or to what extent. She said the plan was intended to provide a 24-hour service.


Managing partner David Childs said: 'If we proceed with this proposal, it would be a continuation of the process we started over two years ago of standardising and centralising many of our routine business processes. In common with many of our clients, we are looking for ways of working that provide a more flexible cost model, greater responsiveness to our clients' needs, plus increased efficiency, and a better business continuity capability.'


At the International Bar Association's conference last month, CC's global head of HR development Tony King said it is beginning to look at whether to outsource basic legal work to firms in other parts of the country and the world (see (2006) Gazette, 28 September, 10).


By Catherine Baksi