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
* 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
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2 comments:
The positive growth (in the Indian LPO sector) that the author contemplates will help
bring about a paradigm shift in the way legal services are delivered in the West.
Padmavathi Shanthamurthy
SDD Global Solutions
high-end legal outsourcing
The LPO industry is growing fast and it is already the fastest growing sub-sector in the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) province.
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