7-Eleven & Andeavor Recognized for Innovative Approaches to Legal Issues

IRVING, Texas and SAN ANTONIO — The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) named 7-Eleven Inc. and Andeavor as 2018 ACC Value Champions.

A total of 12 law department and law department/law firm collaborations were recognized for strategic approaches that increased client satisfaction, enhanced the value of legal service spending, reduced turnaround times and costs, and improved results.

This year's Champions pioneered change for the global legal industry and included a range of innovative collaborations, according to ACC, a global legal association that represents more than 43,000 members in 85 countries. A panel of in-house lawyers chose this year's winners.

"To be considered best-in-class, a law department must move at the speed of the business client, optimizing every process, controlling every cost, taking advantage of every available piece of data," said Catherine J. Moynihan, associate vice president of legal management services at ACC. "These Champions use leading management practices — writing applications, leveraging AI, and applying sophisticated sourcing and staffing models — to help the businesses they serve succeed."

7-Eleven was selected for streamlining its law department to better support the company's real estate portfolio of more than 10,000 properties with the help of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Together, they applied a value-based sourcing and staffing model, realigning workflow based on type of matter.

Through flat fees and lean six sigma process improvement initiatives, 7-Eleven saw outside spend drop, and new store deal fall-through rates fell from 25 percent to nearly 1 percent, according to ACC.

Andeavor and Counsel Management Group restructured, creating "centers of excellence," one of which is legal operations. The team centralized all matter creation, bill review, and reporting and analytics, resulting in a 28-percent reduction in legal spend.

They also launched an RFP initiative fixated on value-based fees and comparative cost models. The RFP initiative identified more cost-effective firms and increased use of fixed fees by 30 percent in one year.

San Antonio-based Andeavor is an integrated marketing, logistics and refining company. Its retail-marketing system includes approximately 3,300 stations marketed under multiple fuel brands, including ARCO, SuperAmerica, Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Tesoro, USA Gasoline and Giant.

Based in Irving, 7-Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 66,000 stores in 17 countries, including 11,600 in North America.