A newly developed service to improve the collection of defence fees for lawyers has just signed up its first broker.Xchanging, the business process, procurement and technology services provider, announced Willis has given them the job of collecting defence fees.In a statement, Xchanging said: “The newly developed service is designed to improve the timely and costly process of collecting defence fees for lawyers.By outsourcing to Xchanging, Willis and other brokers will be able to redirect time previously spent recouping defence fees, towards servicing their core clients and fee-generating activity.”They added that under the contract, signed in August following a year-long pilot which has proven a success for both companies, Xchanging’s defence fees collection service will allow Willis to satisfy their broker contract with the market.Rob Myers, director, BPO Services at Xchanging, said: “We are very excited to have signed this deal with Willis. Having worked with the team on the pilot for a year, we have jointly demonstrated that the process is effective.“Being the first to sign up to this new service demonstrates how forward thinking Willis is, and we look forward to building on our benefits in this area.”John Muir, senior partner at Willis, added: “One of Willis’ ongoing aims is to develop and improve our overall service proposition.“Outsourcing the collection of defence fees incurred on behalf of our clients to an experienced external provider is an improvement to our operational efficiencies which allows us to do just that.“After a strong initial pilot, I am confident that the Xchanging team will be able to provide a great service for us and our clients in this space.”