About
Ashurst LLP is a leading international law firm, with 28 offices in 16 countries across the globe. Headquartered in London, they are one of the UK’s largest legal firms, and are the winner of Asia Pacific Law Firm of the Year at the Global Derivatives Awards 2016.
Requirement
Ashurst needed to roll out a new finance system, Elite 3, across their offices in Asia and Europe. The programme would unify and upgrade all of Ashurst’s financial systems globally, but in order to implement, the firm had to put the right people in place to lead and execute this difficult transformation. Time was of the essence, and it was critical that the project not fall behind schedule, while staying on budget. At the start of 2016, Ashurst approached La Fosse Associates to help them turn the project around and recruit a highly specialised programme manager to get this business-critical programme over the line. The challenge was clear; they needed a candidate with a very specific skillset and level of experience to lead this transformation. La Fosse was engaged on this assignment, having to take on board not only the difficult environment – where there had been past failures – but also manage extremely particular law-firm stakeholders, to which culture and delivery are of upmost importance.
Solution
Ashurst engaged with La Fosse for a number of reasons: our understanding of the marketplace; our extensive network; and our knowledge of the challenges faced by an organisation when attempting to align outstanding delivery with complex cultural and commercial objectives. We understand the importance of cultural impact and are experienced at helping clients deliver programmes end-to-end. These key strengths, and simply the way in which La Fosse operates, contributed hugely to the success of Elite 3’s global rollout.
Results
After swiftly sourcing and placing an expert contract PM to drive the programme, we placed an additional 16 contractors into his team over the next 10 months (range of roles including: PMs, BAs, test managers, project managers, and several technical roles). The project was delivered both on time and on budget.
Testimonial
“With La Fosse working for you, either in the capacity of securing your next role or acting as a provider of good-quality people, you’re in great hands. After successfully placing me into my current role, La Fosse were pivotal in building a strong team around me, thus helping to drive the programme forward. They have a solid understanding of business requirements and the sensitivities of a brief, and are able to translate this into a very strong shortlist. Each shortlist was provided within 24 hours and I’ve hired from every one. I would have no hesitation in using La Fosse to look for my next role, or to recruit a team through. I have always found them to be extremely knowledgeable of market trends and true professionals in their approach and interaction.” PROGRAMME MANAGER, ASHURST