The mining giant has partnered with Jersey-based outsourcing provider CPA Global, which will supply a dedicated a team of 12 Delhi-based lawyers to take on a portion of the company's legal work. The CPA India team will at first take on tasks such as contract review, drafting and legal research, though it is expected that this scope will gradually be expanded to include other routine legal services work traditionally handled by the firm's in-house team or panel law firms. The strategy is expected to slash Rio Tinto's annual legal spend by 20 per cent.

Rio Tinto's managing attorney, Leah Cooper, explained: "We took a long, hard look at our internal costs and the amount we were spending with outside counsel and we saw an opportunity to make a significant changes to the way we deliver legal services to the group.

"By shifting work to CPA Global our internal team will be freed up to get involved in some of the more complex and challenging matters, which might have, in the past, been sent to outside counsel at significant cost."

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