July.10.2012
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP’s Global Operations Center ("GOC") celebrates its 10th anniversary today. Founded with the intent of in-sourcing the firm’s information technology infrastructure and financial operations, the GOC has become the core of virtually all of the firm’s day-to-day administrative operations and is increasingly becoming integrated into our client service offerings through our career associates, document review service, discovery technology team and Global Corporate Solutions compliance services.
"Being the first U.S.-based law firm to in-source its back-office operations was one of the smartest decisions we’ve ever made for the firm and our clients," said Ralph Baxter, Orrick’s Chairman and CEO. "I believe that we have far-surpassed our goal of simply improving client service and reducing operating costs. We’ve greatly improved our client-focused services, including our ediscovery, document review and compliance services, middle-office support and administrative functions, providing Orrick with a strategic, competitive differentiator among our peer law firms. In addition, we’ve helped revitalize a former steel town, creating over 350 jobs in Wheeling, West Virginia."
The GOC provides the firm and its clients with a central business infrastructure that delivers comprehensive and reliable support services around the world and around the clock. Across time zones and in relation to almost every jurisdiction, the GOC makes Orrick’s vast global legal database and compliance systems available to clients dependably and efficiently.
Orrick has been at the forefront of law firm innovation, adopting unconventional solutions such as its new talent model which does away with the traditional lockstep advancement for associates, as well as creating "career associate" positions for attorneys pursuing a nonpartner-track.
Orrick currently employs over 40 career associates in the GOC, who work across a variety of practice areas including commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, public finance, intellectual property, ediscovery and information management, emerging companies, insurance and employment law.
In 2011, the Regional Economic Development Partnership, which owns the former Wheeling Stamping facility that the GOC occupies, agreed to invest $1 million to "build out" the last 7,000 square feet of unused space in the building. The additional space has allowed Orrick to accommodate an additional 50 employees.
Founded in 2002, the GOC is located in an 88,000-square-foot facility in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is home to Orrick’s network operations center, internationally recognized Service Desk, software applications support, and web engineering. Key finance functions located here include global taxation, general ledger, billing and collections, and payroll. In addition to supporting the HR needs of the GOC, the Human Resources team also handles firmwide benefits, compensation and HRIS administration. Other support services, including, Global Corporate Solutions, Litigation/eDiscovery, Business Development/Marketing, and Lawyer Development are integral in the firm’s daily operations. Along with the professional staff services, the GOC also houses lawyers and legal team professionals who support the lawyers across our practice offices.