Client Situation 

Our client, an India-based Multinational Bank and Financial Services Company, had a series of loan agreements with detailed indices in their portfolio. These indices were LIBOR-linked, a benchmark being phased out on December 31, 2021. Our client needed to remediate each loan agreement and index to remove all references to LIBOR and replace it with the newly-selected benchmark ahead of the deadline, a tall task to achieve in-house with limited resources and time.

DWF’s Solution

The Legal Operations team at DWF collaborated with our colleagues in DWF’s Legal Advisory division to provide an integrated solution for our client. Our Advisory division worked with the client to create contract templates designed to efficiently change the indices from LIBOR to either SONIA or Base Rate, as applicable. Once the templates were created, DWF prepared all draft amendments, and validated key terms provided by our client within the indices. These drafts were then shared either with Advisory for ‘international reviews’ or to the client for ‘domestic reviews’. DWF’s remediation and negotiation team monitored the execution status for each review and ensured that each item was closed ahead of the deadline.

Key Benefits & Outcomes

• DWF’s ability to staff a large contract management team ensured there were enough resources to complete this project within the established timeframe
• Every index was remediated ahead of the deadline, ensuring the client could be confident and secure in their loan agreements
• DWF’s collaboration with DWF Advisory provided an efficient pathway for legal advice and review, which preserved time and resources for the client
• DWF’s pricing structure enabled a lower cost for the client than if they had attempted to use their own resources to complete this project

Client Situation 

The client had about 30,000 contracts spread across 10 different business units globally, none of which had been added to the client’s central CLM repository. In addition to not having these contracts stored centrally, the client had also identified 90 different metadata fields that needed to be extracted from each contract, with a particular focus on detailed financial information so that the various business units could have quick insight into the obligations of their contracts. 

Within their CLM system, the client already had about 15,000 contracts that DWF had previously abstracted and loaded into the system. However, these contracts had only ~40 fields abstracted, meaning 50 of the above-referenced 90 fields had not been abstracted for these existing contracts. In order to have fully up-to-date records, the client also needed this additional information abstracted from these “legacy contracts".

DWF’s Solution

The Legal Operations team at DWF designed a workflow that covered end-to-end contract management for both the new contracts and the legacy contracts. This included sorting all the new contracts to connect related agreements, creating a playbook to detail the client requirements around abstracting the 90 metadata fields, reviewing, abstracting, and uploading all new contracts, and simultaneously reviewing and updating the legacy contracts in the CLM tool itself. The types of contracts reviewed included Master Service, Confidentiality, Direct Purchasing, Distribution, License & Supply, Pharmacy Services, Quality, Statement of Work, Software License, Veterinary, Rebate, Pharmacovigilance, Master Purchasing (IT), and Marketing & Supply Agreements.

Key Benefits & Outcomes

• The client now has one centralized repository with nearly 30,000 contracts containing the 90 individual data points for quick reference
• Our ability to combine English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin reviews within the same workflow allowed all foreign language contracts to be completed simultaneously 
• We were also able to quickly grasp the functionality of the client's CLM tool and serve as an extension of the client's legal department in identifying and fixing issues within the system that were preventing the proper capture of data 
• We staffed a large team very quickly in order to meet the growing scope of this project and have all contracts completed and loaded quickly
• Our resources were able to complete the project at a lower price point than onshore resources would have and in a much faster time frame 

Client Situation 

Our client, one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing companies, possessed data related to nearly 30,000 royalty payments as the result of a recent acquisition. In order to understand the royalties that had been paid as well as those that were still obligations, the details of these historic royalty payments needed to be added to the client’s home-grown royalty-tracking database.  Because the information needed to be captured quickly to precede a major technology advancement by the client, and because a technology-based extraction and migration solution was not possible, the resource-constrained client turned to DWF to perform the task accurately and efficiently.

DWF’s Solution

The Legal Operations team at DWF first gathered any existing guidance materials from the client to understand the basics of the home-growth software application. From there the team created a draft processing playbook.  The next step was to schedule a walkthrough demo with a working member of the client’s team to refine the playbook and fill in gaps in the existing guidance materials. Following a successful small team proof of concept in which DWF uncovered several additional scenarios that were not contemplated by the client team, the parties finalized the playbook, trained and activated a larger team, and worked through the collection of royalty records, reporting on productivity and progress as the project went forward. Using a combination of people, process and technology, DWF captured all necessary royalty metadata into the client’s database, prioritizing key accounts and identifying and reporting on duplicate and false entries along the way.

Key Benefits & Outcomes

• The client’s royalty database now includes a complete and accurate record of all royalty payment data related to the titles acquired in its recent corporate purchase, in time to integrate the data into its updated technology applications
• By utilizing the Legal Operations team at DWF, the client’s internal team could instead focus on their regular tasks rather than sourcing, training and managing short-term staff
• DWF’s flexibility and staffing resource model allowed it to increase the team size when the client encountered a technology-related that put the project timeline in jeopardy 
• The comprehensive playbook created in collaboration with the client as a result of demos and a fruitful proof of concept nearly radically reduced the number of escalations during the project, which resulted in efficient, consistent, accurate processing and predicable project cots and timelines 

Client Situation 

The client faced significant challenges managing a vast global portfolio of contracts across multiple teams, hindering efficiency and consistency. Initially, they sought our help to handle confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements for a specific project team. Recognising our effective solutions, they expanded our role within a year to include managing contracts for two procurement teams, the Mergers & Acquisitions team, and in-house legal documentation for their operations in India, Malaysia and South America. Our intervention transformed their contract management into a streamlined, efficient, and cohesive system, significantly improving turnaround times, consistency, and control over their global contract portfolio.

DWF’s Solution

The Legal Operations team deployed a group of seasoned lawyers to support the workflow and manage escalations effectively. We established a comprehensive protocol and developed a playbook to ensure all parties adhered to a unified plan of action. Our team meticulously reviewed and redlined a variety of complex contracts, including agreements related to services and goods, raw materials, consultancy contracts, security services agreements and IT software installation agreements, to name a few. By identifying potential issues and offering strategic recommendations, we helped the client standardise their contracts and secure more favorable terms.

Key Benefits & Outcomes

• The Legal Operations team harnessed the client’s review technology alongside our proprietary workflow tool to facilitate real-time escalations, streamline the feedback process, and deliver comprehensive quality management reports.
• The Legal Operations team's swift turnaround and seamless workflow enabled the client to close contracts promptly and efficiently, significantly enhancing their operational performance.
• The Legal Operations team’s hybrid resource deployment and technological integration ensured real-time escalations, streamlined feedback, and quality management, providing adaptable, tailored solutions for complex, global contract portfolios.