A top 10 global biopharmaceutical company needed support heading into a major acquisition. The company required the review of nearly 80,000 contracts, consultation and advisory roles for stakeholders, development of templates and reporting to mitigate risk, and the ability to track project performance. Failure was not an option.
Axiom deployed a scalable team of lawyers to work in-house with the client after the acquisition on a range of legal and procurement integration initiatives. As the client sought to achieve multi-billion dollars of cumulative savings, Axiom allowed for a significant reduction in outside counsel spend, saving the client over $20 million.
A top 10 global biopharmaceutical company was preparing for a major acquisition and needed a scalable due diligence team to support third-party consultants and act as a legal review and escalation point for contract review. Once the acquisition was complete, they needed a consistent, multi-layered, stable team to continue to support the in-house team during the integration and transition to a merged company.
Axiom’s solution was divided into two phases, during both of which the Axiom lawyers worked under the supervision of the client’s in-house team. Phase one included scaling a legal team from three to 12 attorneys, with two legal team leads. Each lead was focused on a different contract type. The team acted as intermediaries between internal and external stakeholders to serve as a “legal safety net,” effectively channeling communication and advising different parties. Phase one was executed over a seven-month period, with almost 80,000 contracts of differing types reviewed in total.
To help the client track project performance and mitigate risks, Axiom’s delivery team built bespoke reporting systems. These reports captured progress to goal, areas and contract types, challenges, output, and next steps, as well as success coordinating with third-party consultants and supporting new stakeholders.
For phase two, the client invited the Axiom attorney team to transition to integrated support for the in-house procurement team, to ensure smooth operations post-merger. For the next year, the Axiom team’s broad range of expertise enabled them to provide support across many different departments, including IT, Research & Development, and Real Estate. Axiom also deployed automated reporting to capture production progress and identify available lawyer capacity, allowing the client to maximize attorney use.
The client realized over $20 million in savings on external counsel spend over two years. Axiom’s support also enabled the company’s internal team to focus on strategic work and better drive the business. Axiom’s scalable team enabled the company to have an agile response to fluctuating needs and work volume across multiple departments.
With a remote team in place prior to lockdown in March of 2020, the Axiom team added further value during a global pandemic and alleviated the burden for the company to find alternative ways of working. In addition, the Axiom team’s bespoke reporting system helped the company overcome the communication and productivity challenges often associated with working with multiple third parties, and enabled the client to maximize attorney use.
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Axiom provides flexible legal talent to help meet businesses’ ever-changing needs. Axiom is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice.
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