Outsourcing essentially involves the transfer of the administration of the complete business to an outer service provider. An agreement is entered into between the client and the supplier. Under the agreement the supplier obtains the means of production in the form of assets and workforce from the client. The segments that are usually outsourced are human resource, real estate, accounting, legal work, telemarketing etc.
Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) sector includes in-house legal organizations which outsource legal work from the regions which are costly for e.g. the US or Europe to the areas where the work can be performed in affordable prices. Legal process outsourcing is growing day by day and is expanding to the developing countries like India. The work involves legal research, drafting, billing and preparation of invoices, intellectual property research, paralegal services, secretarial support services etc. This work is conducted by experienced legal professionals who use databases like the Westlaw, Lexis nexus etc.
India and many other developing countries have reached the forefront in the international scenario of legal process outsourcing. According to the estimates less than 12,000 jobs are available in the LPO industry in India right now, which is expected to grow to a number equal to 29,000 by 2008, 35,000 by 2010, and 79,000 by 2015. The work outsourced by US is worth $60 to $80 million at present which will soon increase to $3 to $4 billion. In spite of all this, there continues to be a resistance to the offshore outsourcing of legal services due to the waiver of privilege, disclosure of sensitive information, unauthorized practice of law, quality control and potential conflicts. But these arguments can be overcome by a methodical and careful approach.
The chief criticism of legal outsourcing is complexity of the work in being specialized and concentrated on the particular jurisdiction in which the client seeks relief. There are basically two kinds of complaints that exist with this work. The law firms are taking advantage of this route to promote themselves. It is alleged that the caliber of the people employed at the offshore locations does not match the requisite experience that is needed to complete a client’s request. Only the regular work like non-forensic accounting, the drafting of legal documents is successful as compared to the more complicated work which involves long term experience and supervision. The other type of complaint comes from ethical issues linked with the confidential nature of the client’s work. The people who are hired in these firms work for gaining money and they can be easily trapped by other companies to extract information. The legal work is more vulnerable than other kinds of outsourced work since it consists of easily identifiable clientele for the purchase of the information.
These days the biggest motive of all the legal outsourcing firms is to make the maximum profit. They outsource work to India so that they can achieve their targets at low prices. This process consists of a two way process of exchange, faith and assistance. In the present day world there is a need for a formal regulation on the legal process outsourcing industry containing education and authorization for offshore attorneys so that some confidence in inspired in the clients to ensure the highest standards of services.
About the Author
Research Counsel in Mindsprings Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd. is a legal process outsourcing company providing legal support services assist lawyers, law firms and similar organisations. http://www.mindsprings.net/, http://lpo-legalprocessoutsourcing.blogspot.com.See Also:
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