Tuesday, September 27, 2005

More GCs Put Outside Litigators on a Budget

Elisa Garcia realizes that no amount of two-for-one coupons or meat lovers' specials will ever turn her law department at Domino's Pizza Inc. into a money-making operation. Instead, the best that she can hope to do as general counsel is to control costs. So, in an effort to gain some of that control, she requires the litigation firms that the pizza company hires to set budgets for the costs of cases at the outset. Garcia's move is part of a trend among corporate counsel who continually cite cutting costs as their greatest concern and who see detailed budgets from outside counsel as a way to trim their expenses. But looking into the future is difficult, say some outside counsel, who assert that devising a realistic budget that can also accommodate the unexpected is a tricky -- if not confining -- endeavor.
Leigh JonesThe National Law JournalSeptember 27, 2005
http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1127738115384

Monday, September 26, 2005

Law firms send case work overseas to boost efficiency

Law firms are outsourcing some of the work on their cases to other countries, joining a growing national trend of trying to cut costs by using a labor force paid at a lower rate than American workers. "Clients are entitled to get these things done in an efficient way," said Jim Shea, managing partner of Venable LLP, one of the Washington area's biggest law firms. His firm has used Indian companies to draft patent applications for Venable clients. The foreign companies also have done "coding" of legal documents in which they index and annotate them before transferring them to computer software. The Indian firms can do legal work for about $40 an hour, compared with $120 an hour charged by many U.S. law firms. Mr. Shea said the quality of work does not suffer from using foreign workers because it is reviewed by U.S. lawyers. "We apply the legal experience and expertise we're required to apply," he said. Other Washington law firms that occasionally outsource legal work include Arnold & Porter LLP and Howrey LLP. Although most of Howrey's outsourcing is done in the United States, some of its contractors have partnerships with companies overseas. The work is limited to coding and electronic data processing, said Brian Conlon, Howrey's chief information officer. About 695,000 lawyers and 200,000 paralegals were employed in the United States in 2002, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 1,300 Indian workers provide services for U.S. lawyers, generating about $52 million in revenue, according to Evalueserve, a business and legal research firm with more than 800 employees in India. By 2015, their billings to U.S. firms would increase to $970 million at the current growth rate.
By Tom RamstackTHE WASHINGTON TIMESSeptember 26, 2005
http://washingtontimes.com/business/20050925-102112-4588r.htm

Friday, September 23, 2005

Legal Research Outsourcing Set to Boom

India is not the only market for legal outsourcing, but it certainly has a headstart: Indian law graduates are already performing high-end legal research for overseas clients, and publicizing it aggressively. As such we can expect India to be the recipient of a good share of the work, yet again.

An adventurous investor may wish to take advantage of the wealth of talent in developing nations to establish a handhold in less-explored industries like medical and legal research and transcription. Highly specialized professions are easily promising markets.

http://www.offshoring-digest.com/outsourcing/255.html

Monday, September 19, 2005

Should Small Firms Get on Board With Outsourcing?

Below are some excerpts from a new article in the Small Firm Business Magazine regarding legal outsourcing (my comments are below):

Some attorneys swear by it: offshoring legal work to India. But is this growing practice just a passing fancy, or is it an effective way for law firms to take a step towards gaining a competitive advantage?

For Ted Sabety the answer is pretty clear. "Law firms need to get on the [outsourcing] train," he says, or they'll get left in the dust. He feels that the ability of firms to pass along savings from the reduced costs for more junior-level legal work is an important competitive advantage. And who knows if another business trend will come along to provide firms with a similar cost saving opportunity for their clients?

The principal of an eponymous three-attorney technology and electronic-media law firm in New York City, Sabety outsources some of his firm's first-year associate research tasks to lawyers in Hyderabad, India. His is a business model that's about striking a balance. He and his colleagues provide the services that attract the clients -- performing analysis, constructing arguments, handling negotiations, etc. At the same time, junior-level legal work is sent overseas to English-speaking, common-law trained lawyers.

"If I hired someone full-time to do the work here, it would require substantial pay, overhead and training," he says. What's more, Sabety says that he gets a quality of work that's equal to that of junior associates here in the United States, yet at a bargain price. Even accounting for the time required to double-check the final work product of the Indian lawyers, he says the savings are significant


The article discusses certain criteria that an attorey should keep in mind before choosing a legal outsourcing provider. Among them are:

1. Ties to the United States: This is absolutely essential, as our experience in running an outsourcing company has showed us time and again. The work cultures of the United States and India are different, and choosing a US company is vital to meet client expectations. In addition, the three most vital elements of a successful outsourcing company are: training, training, training. A US based company is certainly better suited to provide the appropriate training to its attorneys

2. Requring high level of training: To reiterate what was stated above--training is absolutely essential to the success of a legal outsourcing company. Here at LegalEase Solutions, we train our attorneys with both training materials from U.S. law schools as well as pilot projects replicating actual client issues and projects. The training is continuous, with much of it concentrated in the beginning, and regular training every month. LegalEase trainers are all U.S. licensed attorneys with significant experience under their belts. There can be no compromise in training--LegalEase surely doesn't allow for any.

3. Supervision of attorneys: As anyone with offshoring experience will tell you, competent supervision of employees in India is crucial. While many outsourcing companies will undoubtedly start with using independent contractors in India (for its cost savings), as a company matures, it will need to have greater control over the time of its Indian attorneys. For a US lawyer shopping for outsourcing companies, definitely go with one with full-time employees.

4. Closely review work: This advice has dual applications--just as the end user of the legal products must always review the work, so should the outsourcing company. This review serves as an essential substantive review early on, while the Indian attorneys are getting familiar with doing US legal work. Later, as the Indian attorneys are fully competent, the review serves as a quality control process.

Very few outsourcing companies make a commitment to have all work done in India reviewed by US licensed lawyers. LegalEase is one of the few companies which promises to have all work reviewed by its in-house US licensed attorneys.

The next post will deal with the (1) appropriate projects to give to outsourcing companies, (2) security and confidentiality (3) legal ethics.

Tariq Hafeez, Esq.
Partner
LegalEase Solutions LLC

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Probono Legal Outsourcing?

In the wake of the catastrophic events of Hurricane Katrina, we are witnessing the generosity and goodwill of fellow Americans, from random acts of kindness to organized relief efforts. I n the midst of food donations, delivery of clothes, fundraisers, and the like,a new type of service is being offered to a particular segment of Katrina's victims--Lawyers.

The New York Times on September 9, 2005 ran an article on the destruction of the legal system in Lousisana entitled "A System in Shambles" which can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/ This article vividly described the unbelievable destruction of Lousisana's legal system. The article estimated that 1 in 3 attorneys in Lousisana have lost their offices. Just imagine, one-third of the legal community in Louisiana is without access to its files, computers, research materials, etc.

The service being offered to Lousisana attorneys is free legal research and writing--by legal outsourcing companies. In a way, its a type of probono service provided by legal support services to attorneys adveresely affected by the hurricane. By taking advantage of this free service, Lousiana attorneys can help others by offering probono services of their own and also cope with and complete paying work, to keep bread on their tables.

The initative to offer free legal research and writing services was started by Jurix Prudent, a new kid on the block in legal outsourcing. LegalEase Solutions is already working on a probono project with a displaced Lousisana attorney, and has offered free services to Lousisana attorneys on various websites including the state bar association website for Lousiana.

So next time you think about outsourcing as affecting America, please remember that legal outsourcing in more than one way is positively affecting both the legal community and the community at large.

India on the threshold of a boom in legal BPO, says Nasscom report

In an article published on September 12, siliconindia.com refers to a Nasscom report that foresees significant growth in the Indian outsourcing market for legal services. This trend may emerge because legal firms, legal departments in large business organizations, and legal publishing and research houses based in the US are increasingly turning towards India to source services.

Although the legal outsourcing market in India is negligible at the moment, the few services providers that have made the start have managed to provide good service, and this can benefit new entrants who will have the confidence of their clients. In the near future, the legal BPO market in India can multiply rapidly and emerge as a strong segment in the overall BPO services in India. According to an estimate, the potential for legal outsourcing from the US alone is $3-4 billion. siliconindia.com quotes the latest Nasscom report on Legal BPO:

Though there is little hard data available to quantify the legal off shoring segment of the Indian BPO industry, it is estimated that only about 2-3 percent ($60-80 million) of the potential market has been tapped so far.
http://www.blogsource.org/2005/09/india_on_the_th.html

India's courts in session - overseas

Encouraged by the successful growth of the IT outsourcing industry, India has turned its attention to another field to conquer: Legal BPO.

Attention from law firms, multi-national corporations’ legal departments, and even the legal research and publishing firms, legal outsourcing might just be the next big thing. Though still in its infancy with only 2% - 3% gained of the potential market, legal BPO looks very promising with figures for outsourceable legal services hitting 9 figures with US$3 – 4 billion at stake.

"While the size of the Indian legal BPO segment is still very small, the success achieved by early movers has established the proof-of-concept, which is the key to unlocking the potential in new waves of offshore-outsourcing,” reads a NASSCOM report. It optimistically furthers, "The legal services segment is a relatively newer segment that has witnessed recent interest and is believed to hold significant market potential.”

For the moment, legal services outsourced to India are of the para-legal and secretarial support nature. Further services are being eyed for export, such as contract review, patent writing, litigation support, and general research and review. An estimated US$ 250 billion is anticipated in revenues generated by offshoring of legal services – 2/3 of these coming from US clients.

Indian firms who have heeded the call early, providing offshored legal services include in-house legal departments of multinational corporations that have migrated to their India branches: General Electric, Oracle, Sun and Cisco. Offshore-centric service providers such as those devoted to legal services have been contributing the legal BPO growth as well, as Pangea3, Atlas Legal Research, Lexadigm, and Lawwave have been doing. Service providers with legal or patent support services have also come into play, with the likes of Evalueserve, Office Tiger, and Manthan Services in the offing.

"It is reported that there are about a dozen pure-play firms offering offshore legal services from India, and the total number of companies offering some form of offshore/outsourced legal services is about 50," says NASSCOM. Head count for India’s fledgling legal BPO industry stands at 600 – 700 employees, with rates playing around the $12 - $125 rate, dependent upon the nature of service rendered.
Monday September 12, 2005 at 9:20AM - Offshore Outsourcing World Staff
http://www.enterblog.com/

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

They Rule the World

One-year LLM programs at U.S. law schools are on the rise again, attracting fledgling power brokers from around the world
Mikheil Saakashvili left the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in the early 1990s to get a degree at Columbia Law School -- then returned to lead a democratic revolt. In late 2003 Saakashvili rallied his countrymen against corruption in the so-called Rose Revolution, elbowing out former president Eduard Shevardnadze. Today Georgian cabinet meetings have the feel of an Ivy League seminar, with the foreign minister and deputy justice minister also trained in American law. Such is the power of the LLM, the one-year advanced degree that allows foreign lawyers to attend U.S. law schools. These degrees are rarely regarded as revolutionary -- and yet they promote political change. "LLMs are undoubtedly the most effective rule-of-law programs," says Bryant Garth, the incoming dean at Los Angeles' Southwestern University School of Law and the longtime director of the American Bar Foundation. "You create friends. You create people who understand U.S. models. You build an army of advocates for reform."
Michael D. Goldhaber The American Lawyer 09-14-2005
American Lawyer Article

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Legal work outsourcing potential waiting to be tapped

RIGHT from filing patents to drafting transnational contracts to creating necessary information back-up for global corporations in litigations and providing support in contract management - - ,one can outsource a wide range of legal work, bringing in similar scale of economies that business process outsourcing brings to companies.

Indian companies have come of age offering legal outsourcing and making a difference. They are eyeing the $200 billion US market. Significantly, while there are different projections as to what is in store for the Indian market place, one estimate by Forrester puts this at about $3.9 billion by 2010.

Interestingly, this is not just about attorneys, law grads or practising professionals of law at the bar alone. A host of other professions such as engineers and technology experts would be part of this trend, bringing in different domains and pooling resources to provide the end product and service.

The co-founder, Chairman of Pangea3, a legal outsourcing services provider based in the US with operations in India, Mr Sanjay Kamlani, said, "a patent-related services can be offered from outsourced centres at a fraction of the cost needed to process it there.. That means for the same amount, a US company can file for more patents."

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Kamlani, a co-founder of OfficeTiger and its general council and Chief Financial Officer then, said that Pangea3 has been seed funded by Mr Sunil Wadhwani, a co-founder of iGate and Mr Avinash Bajaj, former CEO of eBay India.

"There is lack of clarity in what constitutes legal services in the outsourced mode. This has created different assessment of the current market size and the future potential India holds in the international marketplace, given its advantages.

If you analyse the market size from a different perspective, it clearly emerges that the market is now about $1.5 billion and is projected to grow to about $3.9 billion to $4 billion by the year 2010.

This is something which research firm Forrester also predicts.

V. Rishi Kumar
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

Monday, September 12, 2005

Legal outsourcing is the next big thing: Nasscom

NEW DELHI: With the international law firms, the legal departments of MNCs, and legal publishing and research firms, particularly based in the U.S., increasingly looking at sourcing services from India, Legal BPO may well be the next big opportunity for Indian firms. Indian firms, till now, have cornered only 2-3 percent of the potential market says a Nasscom report. "While the size of the Indian legal BPO segment is still very small, the success achieved by early movers has established the proof-of-concept, which is the key to unlocking the potential in new waves of offshore-outsourcing.
Estimates of the current addressable market potential for legal services outsource able from the U.S. alone are pegged at $3-4 billion. Though there is little hard data available to quantify the legal off shoring segment of the Indian BPO industry, it is estimated that only about 2-3 percent ($60-80 million) of the potential market has been tapped so far," says the latest Nasscom report on Legal BPO.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=29397

India to grab 35K US law jobs by 2010

NEW DELHI: High-end legal services are likely to lead the next wave of offshoring with about 35,000 lawyers' jobs likely to move from US to countries like India by 2010. In its latest study, prepared in July, Nasscom says that MNCs, international law firms, publishing and legal research firms are now increasingly sourcing specialised legal services from India. This is a substantial shift from the existing outsourcing assignments such as credit cards and online technical support. Forrester Inc has found that at least 12,000 legal jobs have been outsourced from US to offshore locations till 2004. The firm projected that of the 35,000 US lawyer jobs expected to be shipped out, 60 to 70% could be headed India's way. By 2015, the total number of outsourced jobs from the US could touch 79,000. ''Reports indicate that billing by Indian lawyers to US firms for in-house work alone ranged from $5 million to $15 million in 2004," says Sunil Mehta, V-P, Nasscom. He says, about 700 employees are estimated to be engaged in providing legal BPO services from India. The global spending on legal services is estimated to be at least $250 billion and Nasscom says that the future looks brighter. ''For a country which churns out close to three lakh law graduates every year, and job market still largely supply-driven, this certainly is good news," says Amit Bhagat, legal consultant, Ernst & Young. ....
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1217363.cms
NAVNEET ANAND
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 02, 2005 12:50:53 AM]

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Playing on a new court

The Indian IT industry has a new court to play on — Legal BPO. But as global firms outsource work to India, domestic players will have to address concerns of data security and service quality to score in the game.
THE Indian IT industry has a new court to play on - Legal BPO.
With international law firms, the in-house legal departments of MNCs, and legal publishing and research firms, particularly in the US, increasingly looking at sourcing services from India, Legal BPO may well be the next big opportunity for Indian firms.
Indian firms, till now, have cornered only 2-3 per cent of the potential market, says a Nasscom report.
"While the size of the Indian legal BPO segment is still very small, the success achieved by early movers has established the proof-of-concept, which is the key to unlocking the potential in new waves of offshore-outsourcing ......
Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee
The Hindu Business Line