Big Four professional services firm Deloitte said today it has launched a Legal Business Services practice in the U.S., which it says is a “comprehensive suite of legal management consulting and technologically-enabled legal managed services for corporate legal departments designed to accelerate the transformation of the business of law.”

One of the world’s largest providers legal business services, Deloitte says the launch is the next phase in its global expansion to transform the business of law.

“Chief legal officers (CLOs) can apply Deloitte’s deep industry knowledge and its breadth of technical capabilities to meet a variety of strategic needs, including the use of data to drive faster, more informed, and holistic decision-making,” the announcement said.

Deloitte said that the Legal Business Services practice will both incorporate and build on its existing legal department offerings, which include legal management consulting and legal managed services designed to help streamline, automate and transform legal departments.

Among the specific services the practice will offer are legal operating model design, contract lifecycle management, legal entity management, regulatory consulting, knowledge management, e-discovery, data governance, legal invoice review and spend analytics, legal services and supplier sourcing, dispute analysis, and forensic investigations.

Deloitte also announced that joining the Legal Business Services practice will be:

  • Mark Ross, principal, formerly executive vice president and global head of contracts, compliance and commercial services at Integreon.
  • Richard Levine, managing director, formerly president of corporate support services at Integreon and previously with Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters.
  • Lewis Christian, managing director, formerly managing director, U.S. contracts consulting, with Elevate Services.

“Legal departments are under pressure to transform as CLOs contend with new challenges brought on by the dizzying speed of business in a digital age while operating in a constrained budget environment,” said Dan Lange, partner, Deloitte Legal Business Services, Deloitte Tax LLP, said in the company’s announcement. “Market analysis shows that many current external providers continue to replicate solutions of the past and deliver narrow services through traditional, siloed methods.”

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Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.