June 09, 2021

outside counsel concierge diversity and inclusion value champions awards and honors

Congratulations to Elevate customer Rio Tinto! The Association of Corporate Counsel named Rio Tinto and Elevate co-winners of a 2021 ACC Value Champions award for creating and launching Rio Tinto’s “Spend Excellence Program.” By the end of 2020, 94 per cent of requests for proposals (RFPs) have resulted in some portion of fees under alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), and 88 per cent of those had all fees under AFAs. The average savings realised on RFPs was around 30 per cent and ranged as high as 94 per cent. The program achieved these results by using Elevate’s Outside Counsel Concierge (OCC) and an e-billing support desk that supports end-to-end management of tendering, engagements, spend management and reporting.

Elevate customer AbbVie was another 2021 ACC Value Champion winner for its Outside Counsel Diversity Initiative. Through the initiative, AbbVie works with its top law firms to develop measurable goals to increase meaningful work by underrepresented attorneys (in particular, partners) on its matters. By 2020, female partner hours increased 64 per cent, minority partner hours by 87 per cent, and underrepresented lawyer hours by 18 per cent, exceeding the initiative’s five-year targets.

Other winners included Elevate customers NetApp and UBS.