Tech-enabled partnership with Legal Decoder focused on legal spend optimization drove 25% cost reduction while surfacing long-term efficiency gains
NEW YORK, March 13, 2025, a tech-enabled legal and professional services company, has been honored by the Association of Corporate Counsel as a 2025 Value Championalongside UBS, a global financial services company, supported by technology from Legal Decoder. This prestigious recognition honors organizations that demonstrate creative and value-based legal management skills, driving both internal efficiencies and industry-wide transformation. The award recipients were honored for their innovative project, "UBS and Credit Suisse Outside Counsel Management Integration: AI-Powered Optimization with UnitedLex and Legal Decoder."
The merger of UBS and Credit Suisse presented a significant challenge: the seamless integration of Credit Suisse's open legal matters and external law firms into UBS's legal operations. To address this, UBS's Outside Counsel Management Team, led by John Burke and Vincenzo Purificato, partnered with Chris Ochs of UnitedLex and Joe Tiano of Legal Decoder to conduct a comprehensive AI-driven analysis of the top 25 matters transitioning from Credit Suisse to UBS using detailed line-item billing data. This approach allowed UBS to identify opportunities to improve work allocation, staffing models, fee arrangements, and billing practices across the portfolio. Working closely with the UBS in-house legal team, the results of the analysis were put into action and ultimately the project delivered a 25% reduction in legal spend across this substantial portfolio of matters, while ensuring stronger budget controls and long-term efficiency improvements.
"At the heart of this project was the close collaboration between the UBS Outside Counsel Management team, the UBS in-house legal team, and UnitedLex, to turn analytic insights into meaningful action," said John Burke, Managing Director, Outside Counsel Management, UBS. "This was a truly collective effort, requiring precision, professionalism, and objectivity from all stakeholders. We delivered a level of success that speaks to the strength of our partnership and the value of a data-driven approach."
By integrating data-driven decision-making into UBS's legal operations, this project strengthened a foundation for sustainable legal cost management, establishing a roadmap for ongoing spend analysis, monitoring, and strategic decision making.
"This project is a testament to what is possible when strategic leadership, deep expertise, and cutting-edge technology come together to solve complex problems," said Chris Ochs, Vice President, Outside Counsel Management, UnitedLex. "Our data-driven approach gave us clear, actionable insights - allowing us to pinpoint opportunities, act decisively, and drive lasting efficiency and value. We didn't just analyze the data, we used it to implement real, measurable change."
With a global presence and a focus on sectors such as health, energy, and technology, UnitedLex has consistently demonstrated the capacity to develop transformative solutions that increase the scope and efficiency of its clients. Now with its third Value Champions Award since 2021, UnitedLex joins a group of esteemed organizations from around the world, including FedEx, PepsiCo, and Ferring Pharmaceuticals, in receiving this distinguished accolade. The award will be presented on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at 4:15 PM CT during the opening of ACC Legal Ops Con 2025.
About UnitedLex
UnitedLex is the preeminent business partner for legal delivering solutions that achieve value and drive growth for corporate legal departments and law firms in the areas of litigation and investigations, intellectual property, legal operations, contracts, and incident response.
Founded in 2006, we co-create solutions that mitigate risk, drive revenue, and optimize business investment-transforming the legal function into a catalyst for success. Our team of 3,000+ legal and business professionals, data analysts, technologists, and engineers support our clients from operational centers around the world.
About UBS
UBS is a global financial services company providing wealth management, investment banking, asset management, and financial advisory services.
About Legal Decoder
Legal Decoder is an AI-powered analytics platform that provides deep insights into legal billing data, timekeeper activity, and law firm efficiency. By leveraging machine learning, Legal Decoder helps corporate legal departments optimize spend, improve billing transparency, and streamline legal operations.
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Susan Hammann
Director, Strategic Communications
press@unitedlex.com
