Outsourcing contracts: Six suggested clauses
July 5, 2008
In researching something, I happened upon an article in CIO Magazine from March 2007: "Outsourcing Contracts: Clause Control," by Stephanie Overby. The article talks about several clauses that outsourcing customers might want in their service contracts:
- Benchmarking - the right to renegotiate pricing if a benchmark survey shows that the contract pricing is significantly above market
- Most favored customer [ugh]
- Cost-plus pricing
- In-sourcing / re-sourcing right
- Continuous improvement
- Mandatory reference - the outsourcer must use the customer as a reference at least X times a year
Lawyers’ outsourcing of client data may jeopardize attorney-client privilege
May 24, 2008
Some lawyers are concerned that if they outsource legal work to non-U.S. firms, they could be jeopardizing the attorney-client privilege because of the U.S. Government’s position that it is free to monitor communications with foreigners. See this Legal Times article about a lawyer suing for a ruling on that point. (Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Law Firm Files Suit to Bar Outsourcing of Client Data [sic], Legal Times, May 27, 2008)