Building on the success of its game changing multi-million pound annual retainer with Tyco International, Eversheds has won its largest-ever primary legal services provider contract with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) across 158 countries.
Following a competitive pitch, the UK top 10 firm has secured a contract to service all the legal needs of IATA, the trade association for the world’s airlines, in 93 countries across Europe, North Asia and Asia Pacific, in addition to the existing fixed-fee contract it won last April to deliver legal services in 65 countries across Africa and the Middle East.
Eversheds will offer a tailored pricing model, with tiered blended rates for each region, a performance-based fee element and project management provisions in a bid to deliver consistent quality, transparency, clear cost control and comprehensible metrics for both parties.
The team will be led by head of global client development Stephen Hopkins, who heads similar deals, including the one with Swiss security systems company Tyco, and who will act as a central point of accountability with dedicated project managers and lead partners in each of the IATA regions.
Jeffrey Shane, general counsel at IATA, said: ‘We have high expectations of Eversheds. The goal of IATA’s legal department is to be on the cutting edge in delivering support to our offices around the globe.
‘We have been impressed with the high quality and cost transparency of Eversheds’ services to IATA in Africa and the Middle East, and we look forward to further benefits as we extend the consolidation of our external legal support with Eversheds across three more important regions for our business.’
Hopkins said: ‘This is one of the largest global frameworks of its type in the legal sector. We will provide all legal services to 158 countries globally; this is no mean feat. Our relationship with IATA has been underpinned by consistent quality delivery, transparency and cost control. We are confident that this new agreement will continue to develop and strengthen our partnership with IATA.’
Eversheds experience of this kind of multi-jurisdictional full-service model started in 2006 when it won the contract to provide industrial conglomerate Tyco with all its ‘business-as-usual’ legal work across EMEA.
That contract, which has been renewed several times, has evolved each time, underpinned by Eversheds’ Global Account Management System.
In May last year, Eversheds was appointed by Tyco spin-off Pentair Flow Control to take over all its routine litigation, certain intellectual property (IP) and commercial work and some premium work in the EMEA region.
IATA is the trade association for the world’s airlines and works with members and the air transport industry as a whole to promote safe, reliable secure and economical air travel. IATA has a presence in 60 countries representing 240 airlines across 113 countries handling some $370billion of financial transactions in 2012.
francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk
For a detailed analysis of why single adviser deals have yet to sweep the market see Three steps forward… will Tyco-style deals ever sweep the market?