Stepping up a gear

Eversheds Sutherland reappointed to Avis Budget Group’s global legal panel

Eversheds Sutherland has been reappointed to the global legal panel of international car rental business, Avis Budget Group.

Avis Budget Car Rental is a leading global provider of mobility solutions, both through its Avis and Budget brands, which have more than 11,000 rental locations in approximately 180 countries around the world, and through its Zipcar brand, which is the world's leading car sharing network, with more than one million members.

In 2015, Avis Budget worked with 700 law firms round the world.  Avis Budget’s General Counsel Michael Tucker led a legal convergence project in which Avis Budget reduced their panel to seven firms, including Eversheds Sutherland.

Following a further review of the panel, the scope of Eversheds Sutherland’s legal services is for a two-year term and will include providing advice to the car rental giant on a range of key services comprising commercial, employment, litigation, IP and marketing support in EMEA, Nordics, Singapore, China, India and Thailand.

The Eversheds Sutherland team is led by Partner Stephen Hopkins, head of global client development and deputy client partner Tom Bridgford and is supported by a large team throughout EMEA and APAC.

Stephen Hopkins, said:

“We are delighted to have been re-appointed to Avis Budget’s legal panel, we work incredibly hard to innovate in how we provide legal services around the globe, providing clients with a single point of contact and centralised billing. We were one of the first law firms to provide this process model, which not only produces high quality legal work but also produces management information and data enabling clients to optimise their legal spend.

Tom Bridgford commented:  “The structure of the model uniquely promotes collaboration between the panel firms.  This provides real benefits for the client and is perhaps a model to be followed with other panels which don’t always deliver what clients hoped for.  The reappointment reflects the international team's steadfast relationships with Avis Budget, and our ability to manage and collaborate with our global teams forged over many years.”

Michael Tucker, Avis Budget General Counsel, said:

“I’m pleased to say Eversheds Sutherland provides us with high-quality international support, and we are looking forward to their continued creative commercial approach in our future working relationship. In 2015, we transformed our legal operations and delivery to the company, and Eversheds Sutherland was one of a seven-firm panel from 700 Law firms to serve our legal work around the globe.”