Law firm ‘conservatism’ slowing LPO market growth

Market hype and law firm conservatism have hindered the growth of the legal process outsourcing (LPO) market, according to a report by data analyst Ovum seen exclusively by the Gazette.

While the LPO industry is ‘set for significant growth over the next few years’, it is ‘still a nascent market’ some ‘seven or eight years’ behind the business process outsourcing industry, the report concluded.

The report noted that law firms have been slow to embrace IT outsourcing over the last decade, and suggested that this could explain their cautious approach to LPO. Law firms have publicly announced just 49 ‘small-scale’ IT outsourcing deals of more than $1m (£0.66m) in the last 10 years, with an average value of less than $15m (£9.89m), the report found.

Ovum also suggested that the need for consensus with all partners on major decisions was a barrier to LPO deals.

Ed Thomas, analyst in IT services at Ovum, said: ‘There’s a streak of conservatism that runs through the legal industry. A lot of these firms have been around for a long time and have done business in the same way for years. But this all has an impact on the cost of legal services.’

The report said that the recent deal between City firm CMS Cameron McKenna and outsourcer Integreon ‘suggests that law firms, having previously believed that they had different needs than companies in other industries, are beginning to appreciate that there are certain services…that all large companies require and that can be provided cheaply and efficiently by third parties.’

Under the deal, valued by Integreon at £583m over 10 years, CMS will outsource a substantial part of its non-legal office functions.

‘As the [chief executive] of one pure-play LPO vendor told us, it is not the case that law firms did not understand the benefits of the LPO model prior to the recession,’ the report said. ‘Rather, they understood its benefits right away, but there was no incentive for them to do anything about it. Now, with in-house counsel reducing the number of outside law firms they work with, the incentive is there for companies to begin to embrace LPO.’

The report suggested that hype around LPO caused numerous opportunistic start-up companies to flood the market before the sector could establish itself.

Source:http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/law-firm-039conservatism-slowing-lpo-market-growth

LPOs peep beyond the US market for growth

Homegrown legal process outsourcing (LPO) providers have a new story to share. While the United States continues to dominate the $60 billion Indian IT-BPO exports, a substantial growth of the LPO market is being driven by other geographies too. The $440 million global legal outsourcing industry has experienced new business developments in regions such as Europe and Australia in the recent times. And to grab the opportunity, vendors like CPA Global, Pangea3 or Integreon are gearing up to serve these fast growing markets— which now contribute a significant amount to their revenues.

Of late, Pangea3, a Mumbai-based LPO tied up with an Australian law firm Advent Lawyers to set up its base in the region. Two months back, the company had also opened an office in London as part of a concerted expansion drive in Europe. It was reported that company’s expansion in Europe will allow it to increase revenues by 15% over the coming year. At present, Europe drives a significant 30% revenue for the company while Australia and Apac contribute 10%.

Sanjay Kamlani, co-CEO Pangea3, says, “Europe is a growth story in itself. The outsourcing view in the region is changing. Work like electronic discovery, commercial contracts, procurement agreements and other day to day work by general counsels is driving the growth.”

Questioned on the current European crisis, he further explains that though the budgets are contracting in the UK, it does not mean that the law firms are doing less work. There is a portion of non discretionary work which law firms always outsource. The company caters to many UK based companies like GE, Amex, Sony, and Kamlani feels that this business could extend to their European work as well.

Even Jui Narendran, head of ValueNotes Sourcing Practice feels that the UK law firms are looking to cut costs of maintaining their international networks, to be able to compete with the US law firms. “Cutting costs and better utilisation of in-house lawyers by outsourcing low value tasks is a compelling reason for law firms to consider outsourcing/offshoring in their strategy,” she adds.

Simultaneously, directing towards the importance of other regions apart from the US, Leah Cooper, director—strategy and development for legal services outsourcing, CPA Global feels, “We see a lot of interest in the European market and Australia as well. Right now, growth is coming equally from the US and Europe.” The company gets 40% revenues from Europe and Australia clubbed.

Noting the potential of the non-US regions, Anand Sharma, CFO and head, management services at CPA Global comments, “In the last one year, RFP and enquiries from the European and Australian customers have increased to 40% as against 20% earlier.”

Sharma also feels that the US market is dominated by outsourcing the litigation work. On the other hand, Europe and Australia heavily outsource non litigation work like contract management and M&A due diligence.

Looking at history and analysing all the big contracts that impacted the LPO industry, UK has a major role. Last year, Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group based in the UK awarded a contract to CPA Global. Rio Tinto offshored contract review and drafting, legal research and document review to CPA Global.

Similarly, Integreon won a seven-year contract worth £50 million from UK based law firm Osborne Clarke. Integreon will provide knowledge and information management; technology and business intelligence services; transcription, secretarial, and word processing services to the law firm.

Thus, we foresee a higher growth rate in the European and APAC regions to outsource legal work, considering they joined the gang late. Not to forget, the United States has already been through the curve and other regions are now catching up even faster to overtake the same market opportunities.

Source:http://www.financialexpress.com/news/lpos-peep-beyond-the-us-market-for-growth/660605/0

Global LPO Conference

DELHI, INDIA : The Global LPO Conference 2010—Buyers and Vendors Meet in the LPO Industry –to be held in Delhi, India on November 13th and 14th at Hotel Radisson Noida (Delhi-NCR), India—KPO Consultants, today welcomed on board Bodhi Global Services as its Gala Dinner Sponsor.

Bodhi Global Services is a legal process outsourcing (LPO) company with offices in Mumbai, Pune (India), and New York City. Bodhi provides high quality and low cost legal support services to international companies and law firms. Set up by AZB & Partners and the Patni family, Bodhi Global is genetically blessed with strong legal oversight and sophisticated technology, infrastructure and processes. Combined with experienced big firm US lawyers, Bodhi Global provides a complete solution for all aspects of litigation support, contract review, drafting and management, corporate due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and legal and regulatory research.

Our association with Bodhi Global is another step towards providing an impetus to the LPO industry to help forge new alliances and create newer opportunities for expansion. This Conference, is a unique event aiming to bring together key executives with extensive interests in the legal outsourcing industry to one location across two days to discuss, deliberate, and learn about the challenges and opportunities posed by current practices in their industry.

While the Conference boasts of an impressive line-up of speakers including industry stalwarts like:
• Abhi Shah, CEO, Clutch Group
• Anand Sharma, CFO and Head – Management Services, CPA Global
• Arihant Patni, Chief Executive Officer, Bodhi Global Services
• Atul Sharma, Regional Vice President, Indo American Chamber of Commerce
• Deepak Malhotra, European GC, Constellation Brands
• Desh R. Urs, Managing Partner, iBridge LLC
• Hemant Batra, Lead Partner-Kaden Boriss UK and Vice President SAARCLAW
• Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms & Partner, Bhasin & Company
• Michael D. Bell, Managing Principal, Fronterion LLC
• Nigel Kissack, Head, Dispute Resolution and Litigation team, Pinsent Masons
• Patrick Burke, Senior Director and Assistant General Counsel, Guidance Software, Inc
• Rahul Shah, AVP & Head, Infosys LPO
• Richard Reade, UK General Counsel, ISS World
• Sanjay Kamlani, Co-CEO Pangea3

KPO Consultants, has been providing business solutions exclusively to the LPO industry and has worked with established and aspiring LPOs to set up their ventures, overcome their complex business and strategic issues and help management make key decisions affecting top line growth of the company. Having served clients in India, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Philippines, Mauritius, Canada, Australia, and many more countries, they have built a repository of insights and experience in this segment and are adept at understanding the finer nuances of offshoring/outsourcing legal work. For more information, please visit the Conference website www.globallpoconference.com or you may write to us at info@kpoplacements.com

Info Taken From: http://free-pressrelease-distribution.com/the-global-lpo-conference-2010-welcomes-on-board-bodhi-global-as-its-gala-dinner-sponsor-2724259.html

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO): Into the Future

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO): Into the Future

An article by Mark Ross of LawScribe Inc., one of the leading LPO's in the world today. The article mainly discusses the origin of the LPO industry and what has resulted in its constant surging upward growth, why legal process outsourcing will become a norm amongst most law firms and corporates all over the world as well as provides some insight into what direction the industry will grow in the future.

LPO - A Lucrative Career For Lawyer

LPO - A Lucrative Career For Lawyer

By: Manthan Legal

CHANGE is a word with which Mr. Barack Obama fought and won the US Presidential elections. CHANGE is a word with which Mr. Warren Buffet revolutionised investments from a small set up to a brand which demands respect. And believe it or not, CHANGE .is a word, which is all set to change the lifestyles of many law graduates in our country. Yes, I am talking about those legal professionals and law students who are thinking of shifting focus from the traditional law practice to a more lucrative corporate life style, which comes in the form of a new area called Legal Process Outsourcing. Gone are the days, when the first few years in a lawyer's career were spent on daily duties like carrying out secretarial functions, maintaining case files, assisting in preparing a case, searching for case decisions, writing down minutes of a meeting with a client, or may be seeking adjournments in courts or signing affidavits. In today's world, law graduates have great opportunities, and can certainly move beyond the shadows of their senior lawyers to make a great career for themselves in the booming LPO sector. LPO is the buzz word in today's legal industry in India. Legal Process Outsourcing refers to the practice of a law firm or a corporation, obtaining legal support services from an outside law firm or a legal support services company. India has perhaps turned out to be the best offshore destination for legal support services from countries like USA, UK and Canada because of availability of skilled and good English speaking lawyers, cost advantage and favourable time zones. The Indian LPO industry has shown an unbelievable growth in the recent past and according to Forrester Research it is expected to reach more than $4 billion and create more than 79000 jobs by the year 2015. The nature of work outsourced and carried out by the LPOs in India can be classified under two heads namely : Quantitative or low skilled work and Qualitative or high end work. Broadly, across these two categories, it covers legal support work like litigation support, document review and management, legal research, contract management, intellectual property related work, paralegal support services, bankruptcy, immigration, etc. The LPO industry in India provides great job opportunities for lawyers. A young lawyer planning to enter the LPO industry has a number of advantages over a career in traditional law practice. Firstly, by working in LPOs, they are exposed to a wide range of international legal work. Secondly, they get an opportunity to work in a corporate environment with most LPOs providing employee centric facilities. Thirdly, LPOs serve to be a better salary start for lawyers than typical law firm practice. A very important advantage is that LPOs provide a great career path for lawyers, and with talented lawyers they offer a steep career growth in a short span of employment. To conclude, the nascent but growing LPO industry is bound to provide massive and great job opportunities for lawyers in our country and these job opportunities will be seen as a better option than traditional practice.

Article Source: http://www.sooperarticles.com/business-articles/career-development-articles/lpo-lucrative-career-lawyer-115436.html

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Stand up now: Which LPO will not be working with Microsoft? | Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)| Legally India

Stand up now: Which LPO will not be working with Microsoft? | Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)| Legally India

Microsoft is outsourcing all its legal work now. First CPA Global, then Integreon and now Wipro join the legal bandwagon of Microsoft.

Private equity houses set sights on LPOs and higher investment returns | News | The Lawyer

Private equity houses set sights on LPOs and higher investment returns | News | The Lawyer

ABA Continues Examining Legal Outsourcing Ethics

ABA Continues Examining Legal Outsourcing Ethics

GROWTH OF LPO IN TODAYS LEGAL WORLD

The Legal Process Outsourcing has brought a diverse change in the Legal World. Its due to the globalization of the legal domain, LPO came into the limelight. The big solicitors firm like "Clifford Chance", "Linklaters", "Allen & Overy" has opened their offices in other countries in Asia and Europe due to high demand of the legal work.


Since the breakdown of the world economy, particularly in US and UK, there has been a speedy growth in the LPO industry. In consequence of such breakdown in the economy, the bulk of outsourced legal work, such as Drafting and Legal Research had grown immensely. It is been analyzed that the current growth in Indian Market is around 35% to 40%.


With the situation been changing currently, the LPO industry furnishes services in various fields of Legal World like Drafting, Legal Research, Legal Coding, Legal Transcription. It also provides high quality services in the field of Intellectual Property, Banking law etc. Apart from these services it also helps out with Legal Advisory Services and HR mobility. Keeping in mind the current trend in LPO industry, the important tool to the growth of the LPO industry remains in the high quality specialized services in Intellectual Property, Document Review, Banking law. Due to the urgent demand in the transparency in the US corporate structure, it envisaged that there might be growth in corporate compliance and other relevant field.


The LPO industry has shown a speedy progress, even during the Recession, the LPO sector grew by 35% - 40% each year. Revenue growth between 2010 and 2015 is expected to be approximately 25%. Currently, there are over 5,000 professionals in the LPO industry in India and other countries, contributing an annual revenue of around USD 290 million, and this is expected to reach 19,000 professionals with an annual revenue of USD 980 million by December 2015.


“Due to the adverse condition of World Economy, there will be pressure on law firms to reduce their overheads related to marketing and sales, general administration, Information Technology, accounting, clerical, paralegal, and knowledge management. These overhead expenses account for about 17% of the total overhead expenses (of approximately 41%) that a typical law firm with 20 or more lawyers incurs in the U.S. By moving most of this work, which is non billable, offshore, these firms can reduce this cost to approximately 7%. Currently, almost no law firm in the U.S. is considering this option”


“The implementation of Clementi proposals in the UK is expected to boost the LPO industry because law firms are likely to be more efficient. In fact, many law firms have started implementing new models for pricing, designing, and managing better legal work processes; modifying and re-using existing work products and templates; partnering with other legal service providers to provide the entire array of services; and beginning to outsource functions (offshore) that include creating marketing and sales brochures, accounting, Information Technology, clerical, paralegal, knowledge management, secondary research, and legal and library information research.”


Referred : Article on "Growth in Indian LPO Industry" by Sushant Aggarwal published at http://www.articlesbase.com/intellectual-property-articles/growth-in-indian-lpo-industry-1073933.html

Law firms outsourcing tasks to outside services: Blog & RSS marketing technology next

Law firms outsourcing tasks to outside services: Blog & RSS marketing technology next

India knocking the Western legal market

India knocking the Western legal market

The article gives a basic outline of how not only small international law firms, but also giants like Clifford Chance are endeavouring into the Legal Process Outsourcing sector.

Time to open your eyes to legal outsourcing

Time to open your eyes to legal outsourcing

WHAT IS LEGAL PROCESS OUTSOURCING?

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is a practice by virtue of which large or small law firms seek legal assistance and services from another law firms. These other firms or organizations can be from either within or outside their own country. Ordinarily, a lawyer contracts either directly or indirectly through an intermediary with an individual or a firm to perform various legal support related services. Following are the important services of LPO:

    * Contract management and Review
    * Legal Research
    * Bookkeeping and billing
    * Data analysis and management
    * Drafting of pleadings
    * Document review
    * General litigation support services
    * e-Discovery
    * Intellectual Property (IP) services – Patent portfolio management, patent optimisation and patent trademark filing process.
    * Legal transcription


With the recession setting in and cost-cutting becoming more of a regular scene in most law firms across the world, LPO has become a compelling option for most foreign law firms. As normal legal services are very expensive in the US and the UK, these firms have turned to firms in India or the Philippines to export their legal work and simultaneously manage costs. The LPO market was valued at $320 million in the year 2008 by Value Notes research and is likely to touch $640 million by the end of 2010.


CHALLENGES


This legal outsourcing to India has not however been without hiccups. Though the legal outsourcing hubs of India have grown over the last few years, it has been met with some problems from abroad in the form of lawyers in the US and the UK, who have started charging lower fees due to the economic meltdown. Alongside this, some LPO’s and companies in India have failed to deliver. Thus, some US companies have turned to legal service providers, who provide services at lower rates within their country. Apart from this, concerns regarding the confidentiality of clients and the ethical composition of the outsourcing firms have always been under question.


Thus, we see that India has become one of the most popular destinations for companies looking for legal process outsourcing. The basic advantage of the people who undergo legal education in India is that fact that they are good English speakers, efficient researchers as well as are well qualified and often hold a degree in law. Besides the Indian legal system is much like its counterparts in the west.


All this leads us to believe that legal process outsourcing is a major chunk of the outsourcing pie. Inspite of its limitations and the challenges surrounding it, we can expect only positive growth in this sector, especially in India.


Referred: Artlicle on "What is LPO?" by Doug Peters published at http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-LPO?&id=4397392