Over the recent past, the legal process outsourcing has witnessed tremendous growth. It has emerged as a time saving and cost-effective
tool for small law firms and solo practitioners. The term legal outsourcing can be defined as transferring the work of legal professionals, paralehigh-levelttorneys to off-shore vendors having the required skills for completing the work thus outsourced. Legal process outsourcing or LPO is the exporting of legal services to low-wage markets overseas. An increasing number of companies, large and small, are outsourcing legal work to destinations across the globe.
The chief factor responsible for the growth of legal process outsourcing is that it helps in increasing the flexibility, expands the in-house capabilities and helps in minimizing the cost. Legal process outsourcing helps small law firms and solo practitioners to make use of high level talent which they might not be able to afford in-house. India is currently the largest LPO destination. Like the U.S. and the U.K., India’s legal system is grounded in British common law. And, unlike China, which is emerging as an offshoring center, English is the language of instruction in Indian colleges and law schools. India also boasts one of the largest pools of English-speaking graduates in the world. Low labor cost is another major factor in sourcing work to India. In addition, India possesses a large, highly qualified labor pool. Many Indian legal service vendors require a college degree as a bare minimum to employment. Most employees – even data entry workers – possess a graduate degree and most legal employees possess a law degree.
Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is the industry in which in-house legal departments or organizations outsource legal work from areas where it is costly to perform, such as the United States or Europe to areas where it can be performed at a significantly decreased cost, primarily India. Legal Process Outsourcing is a high end industry that has been growing rapidly in the recent years. Another factor responsible for the increasing popularity of legal process outsourcing is reduced turnover time. Use of offshore vendors helps organizations to complete a project in a short time owing to the twelve hour difference in the time zones of US and India. Also the twenty four by seven work schedule of Indian vendors gives an added advantage for completing the task in a shorter time span.
Outsourcing also proves cost effective as it helps organizations to reduce costs due to the wage difference of hiring an in-house resource and outsourcing it to an off-shore vendor. For example, legal professionals based in India have much lower wage rates when compared to US and UK. Also the infrastructure cost in India is comparatively lower than that of US and UK. Legal process outsourcing is occurring in nearly all sectors of the legal industry. The work of lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries and litigation support personnel is increasingly being performed by legal service providers on the other side of the globe.
LPO offers potential cost savings and predictability due to fixed and competitive pricing models, and the speed and flexibility/availability that enables firms and legal departments to respond to fluctuating workloads. Working with offshore providers can offer firms and corporate legal departments efficiency benefits, with time differences also extending working hours. LPO providers who take on large-scale routine work tend to manage processes and apply technology efficiently. Using LPO for routine or repetitive work allows lawyers to concentrate on high-value activities, again boosting the firm’s productivity and margins.
Engaging a blend of in-house and off-shore talent permits law firms and organizations to adapt their competencies in response to tasks as per the demands of the client. Workflow challenges are mainly faced by small law firms and solo practitioners. These firms often find it difficult to adapt to new work areas due to a small number of attorneys, support staff and clients. Outsourcing legal jobs helps small law firms and solo practitioners to speedily prepare for a project and competing with larger firms. Outsourcing to off-shore vendors helps law firms to avoid fixed costs of salaries and benefits associated with permanent staff.
So if you are looking to outsource your legal work, we urge you to get in touch with Complete Legal Outsourcing as Complete Legal Outsourcing has been assisting solo practitioners and small law firms for over five years now with legal projects relating to lease and contract abstraction, drafting, litigation support, legal research, content writing and data entry. Complete Legal Outsourcing supports a team of law graduates who are expertise in abstraction, drafting , research and content writing. Share your outsourcing needs with Complete Legal Outsourcing and get your jobs done at a most competitive price.