Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

The Association of Corporate Counsel Recognizes GSK as a 2012 ACC Value Champion

GSK: Committed Leadership Combines with Technological Innovation
Jun 21, 2012 8:45 PM ET
Bob Harchut, head of US litigation at GSK, talks about how we radically changed the way we engage with outside counsel.

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has recognized GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as a 2012 “ACC Value Champion” for making a difference for the organization through creativity and value-based legal management skills.

“GSK and its legal team are to be commended for taking bold steps to drive value across their global organization,” explained Veta T. Richardson, President & CEO of ACC. “The extremely substantial cost-savings they achieved through their inter-departmental collaborations and innovative use of technology are tactics we hope others will learn from.”

“We are extremely pleased with the results of our Law Department’s creative initiatives to reduce GSK’s outside legal spend while maintaining excellent legal representation,” said Simon Dingemans, Chief Financial Officer. “Our legal team has established a new precedent in the pharmaceutical industry through the use of cutting-edge techniques such as matter-specific, electronic reverse auctions for the full gamut of legal matters.”

Committed Leadership Combines with Technological Innovation By Jennifer J. Salopek

In September 2008, the GSK law department began to radically change when the company appointed a new General Counsel, Dan Troy, a firm believer that the hourly-rate billing system can promote inefficiency. He became responsible for implementing one of the top priorities of GSK's CEO: to significantly reduce outside legal spend, while continuing to obtain excellent legal representation.

Bob Harchut, head of U.S. litigation since 1997, was asked in November 2008 to lead a new team within the law department called the Global External Legal Relations Team (GELRT). Its mission was to dramatically change the paradigm by which GSK paid for legal services by moving all outside counsel assignments throughout the world to value-based fee (VBF) arrangements whenever feasible.

Read more on ACC.com.

About GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.For further information go to us.gsk.com, follow us on twitter.com/GSKUS or visit our blog (www.morethanmedicine.us.gsk.com/blog/).