Outsourcing

Law Firms Will Have to Work Harder for Hefty Profits, Competitor Predicts

Despite rich profits recently reported by some of the nation’s biggest and best-known law firms, the legal work landscape is changing for the vast majority of corporate practitioners. Faced with budget caps and ever-increasing scrutiny of what they spend, general counsels of client companies are flexing their considerable muscle to…

May 1, 2008 4:01 PM CDT

E-Discovery Rule Changes Boost Legal Outsourcing to India

Changes to federal rules governing the discovery of electronic documents have boosted legal outsourcing to India. E-discovery is producing thousands of pages of documents in lawsuits that require a careful—and potentially expensive—review, Time Magazine reports. The cost of document review by lawyers is only about $1 a page in India…

Apr 4, 2008 2:37 PM CDT

Snake’s Alive! India Law Firm Opens London Office

An Indian law firm has created a stir by opening an office in London. “FoxMandal Little has become the first major Indian law house to set up a practice in the U.K. and in the process created quite a splash in the local legal community,” reports the Economic Times. Hundreds…

Mar 17, 2008 3:52 PM CDT

Another Merger for LeClairRyan Puts Va. Firm in Calif.

Fast-growing LeClairRyan is merging with another Richmond-based law firm that has two offices in California. The combination with 50-attorney Wright Robinson Osthimer & Tatum will provide the 270-lawyer merged firm with nine-attorney offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Gary LeClair, the firm’s chairman, expects both offices to grow significantly…

Feb 28, 2008 1:30 AM CST

Outsourcing Alternative: Law Firm Sets Up Own Shop in India

Apparently weary of seeing clients defect to to low-cost companies in India and elsewhere when it came time to perform so-called legal process work, at least one major U.S. law firm reportedly is fighting back. Howrey is opening its own office in India, although outsourcing is not what it is…

Feb 11, 2008 6:06 PM CST

Have a BlackBerry? An Outsourced Personal Assistant Awaits

Do you need the neighborhood dry cleaner to pick up or deliver a few business suits? A quick text message to India can get results fast. In yet another outsourcing trend, harried professionals—as well as blue-collar workers—are hiring low-paid workers half a world away to handle everyday tasks that can…

Feb 5, 2008 6:53 PM CST

More Gen’l Counsels Mull Outsourcing Options

Despite all the hoopla over outsourcing of so-called legal process work such as litigation document review to India, there are still plenty of U.S. companies that don’t do it. But many reportedly are mulling over a possible change in policy. “It is a trend that I have observed—a lot more…

Jan 25, 2008 9:59 PM CST

1st Legal Outsourcing Summit: Good Contracts Needed in Growing Industry

A first-time summit in New York City last week of Indian legal process outsourcing companies and their counsel shows how the industry—which could result in some $4 billion in foreign legal work being sent to India by 2015—is growing. However, some issues in the fledgling industry remain unresolved, such as…

Jan 22, 2008 7:30 PM CST

New Firm to Use Alternative Billing in Commercial Disputes

Three former big-firm lawyers have formed a new law firm in Chicago that will use alternative billing in commercial civil litigation. The firm’s new name will be the Valorem Law Group, which is Latin for “value.” The firm will bill clients using fixed rates, contingency fees and other alternative arrangements,…

Jan 14, 2008 2:34 PM CST

Outsourcing Firms Bring in the Engineers to Advise, Write Patents

Much like American law firms have beefed up their IP practices by hiring lawyers with engineering and scientific backgrounds, so too are legal process outsourcing companies in India. The Hindu Business Line reports that outsourcing firms are hiring experienced engineers to analyze new technologies and to write patents. One company…

Nov 26, 2007 9:17 PM CST

U.K. Lawyers Long for Offices in India

Attorneys at major law firms in the United Kingdom are notably unhappy about their inability to open offices in India, and will continue to press for permission to establish a presence there, a London newspaper says. Eager to work on cross-border deals, London lawyers at big firms long for offices…

Nov 21, 2007 8:39 PM CST

India Says Yes to Foreign Legal Work, But No to Foreign Lawyers

A charm offensive by the British bar has failed to win immediate permission from the Indian government for foreign lawyers to practice in what many consider the world capital of legal outsourcing work. “The Bar Council of India (BCI) has released a joint resolution with the country’s state Bar councils…

Nov 19, 2007 6:50 PM CST

Hollywood Outsourcing Higher-End Legal Work to India

Even with the millions that a successful movie can make, Hollywood producers are watching their legal costs. So, instead of having high-priced U.S. law firms handle all of their entertainment matters, some reportedly are starting to send some relatively high-end legal work to attorneys in India. While outsourcing “back office”…

Nov 12, 2007 9:15 PM CST

‘Attorney at Blah’: JD Earns Extra $20/Hour in Doc Review

CORRECTED: The job is similar, but the pay is different: temp work, in something akin to document review, without a law degree, is dull, thankless work that earns $10 an hour. With a juris doctor degree and a bar admission, temp work brings in $35 an hour–enough to earn a…

Nov 9, 2007 10:44 PM CST

Susskind: Are Lawyers Becoming Obsolete?

A well-known lawyer and information technology expert is publishing a sequel to his decade-old book, The Future of Law, and the future he now foresees for many traditional attorneys isn’t a bright one. “Richard Susskind argues that that lawyers and the legal profession in their present shape face extinction—or at…

Oct 23, 2007 6:40 PM CDT