| Customized Alliance

Customized Alliance is collaborative innovation and partnership.

The Alliance is a tailor-made, one-stop-shop alliance of independent law firms, designed and managed by Kennedy Van der Laan, to offer multinationals the advantage of globally consistent services in quality and working procedures without losing the flexibility and freedom to cherry-pick & source outstanding local expertise that best fits the specific needs of a multinational. It was developed in 2012 and it has been launched and successfully implemented for over five years.

The Customized Alliance aims to maximise the cooperation and knowledge sharing between attorneys and in house counsels across different jurisdictions. It offers a unified approach and consistency in output, maximising ease for the client by centralised management and billing. The way the cooperation is set up (annual flat-fee rate, capped and fixed fee buckets and a self-regulating mechanisms through total transparency between all participating partners) guarantees the best value for money possible for everyone involved.

Summarised, The Customized Alliance is an alternative to global models used by single brand firms. It offers more flexibility to tailor the right local expertise to the specific needs of an organisation.

“The Alliance for Nike, under leadership of Kennedy Van der Laan, has now been in place in the wider European region for five years and it is a great success. In the first years the Alliance accelerated efficiencies, drove convergence and significantly improved spend predictability and insight. In more recent years, the emphasis was on intensive knowledge and best practices sharing, innovative (digital) communications, effective feedback processes, and central project coordination. The Alliance allows us to retain the firms that are the best fit to Nike’s needs in each jurisdiction, while still benefitting from centralized management by Kennedy Van der Laan. It is a true partnership, and the Alliance continues to thrive and expand both in legal fields and jurisdictions.” - Bill Berner, General Counsel Nike EMEA.