Food giant Nestlé has slashed its global legal spend by £34 million in two years by introducing a partnering arrangement with law firms, while chemical giant DuPont is to bring its ground-breaking US partnering structure to its European operations, the two companies revealed at the International Bar Association's corporate counsel conference in Amsterdam last week.

Nestlé saw its total global legal spend drop to £36 million last year, compared to £50 million in 2003 and some £83 million before partnering was introduced in 2002. Around £13 million of the drop was attributable to intellectual property spend being taken out of the figures.


Nestlé European general counsel Trevor Brown said the company had used between 1,500 and 1,700 law firms across its global operations before entering into a partnering arrangement.


City firm Norton Rose is the company's key global partner, instructed for capital markets and mergers and acquisitions work, while City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was selected for competition work.


Mr Brown said: 'Before we introduced partnering, outside legal spend was increasing by 29% year on year. Now the rates we have negotiated with Norton Rose mean it is beneficial for local managers to use them instead of other firms. The relationship is working very well.'


Meanwhile, DuPont European general counsel Patrick Schriber said he intended to cut the number of law firms currently used by DuPont on the continent from 60 to just ten. DuPont will select one firm in each of the main jurisdictions.


DuPont has a global legal spend of $250 million (£163 million), of which $15 million is in Europe.


Mr Schriber said: 'Because we are smaller in Europe, we will not be able to introduce all the elements of partnering that we have in the US, but I want to see more discipline, with closer monitoring of our advisers.'