Baker & McKenzie has become the first global law firm to run the latest version of SAP, employing the solution across all of its 77 offices in 47 countries.

SAP is a powerful, scalable solution that is used by 86% of the Global Fortune 500, including a significant number of Baker & McKenzie clients, that provides robust billing and financial process capabilities as well as accurate talent management information and other process oriented modules.

The single-database core SAP system that Baker & McKenzie now has in place is supplemented by Fulcrum’s Pro Billing for Legal, a certified Rapid Deployment Solution configured specifically for the Legal Industry which provides the flexible billing options the Firm needs to work with clients, as well as the platform for a self-service Reporting Portal.

Every office in Baker & McKenzie is now using SAP for billing and finance management, with personalized dashboards so that staff can track their own performance.  The system runs in 21 languages and is accessed by nearly 1,350 daily users, with the reporting portal available to all fee earners and key support staff. Reporting systems are run in real-time with core metrics and key performance indicators so that up to date reports are available to meet clients’ requirements for accurate and timely information.

Craig Courter, Baker’s Global Chief Operating Officer, said: “The legal services market is changing, and we needed a more scalable platform that enables uniform and consistent global operations. We selected SAP and Fulcrum because we needed our financial operations to work as seamlessly and efficiently as our professionals when representing clients.”

Baker & McKenzie Chairman Eduardo Leite says, " At the heart of this project was the desire to manage and provide our data in a harmonized, consolidated fashion everywhere we do business. For an organization as complex as ours this was always going to be a bold move, but I am delighted with how the transition to SAP is already reaping rewards in terms of how we interact with clients as an integrated, global firm."