Commentary: Outsourcing attorneys can save money, but concerns

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Oct 3, 2006 by Molly F. Dilbeck, J.D

Managing your practice.

You've been there. Your computer inexplicably stopped working, and now you have to call the 1-800 number to figure out just what is the matter.

When your call is answered, you find yourself speaking to someone on the opposite side of the globe. Why? Because the computer company outsourced its tech-support staff overseas.

Now, imagine calling a 1-800 number and being connected to someone in New Delhi or Tel Aviv in an effort to discuss the finer points of your motion for summary disposition.

Sound farfetched? Maybe not.

In our ever-shrinking world, more and more companies are shipping work out and overseas in an effort to cut costs.

For example, just recently, DuPont announced in Business Weekly its decision to open an office in Manila, staffed by 30 Filipino attorneys who will be analyzing documents for pending litigation and saving an anticipated $6 million in the process. The cost is next to nothing, since most legal outsourcing firms charge between $20 - $75 an hour, depending on the type of work and urgency of the project.

Further, these firms promote their ability to save attorneys the most valuable asset of all - their time.

By farming out legal research, these outsourcing businesses advertise their ability to enable attorneys to practice more efficiently and take on more work with less stress and output.

Money saved and ease of use, however, don't assuage all of the concerns that can arise from the mere mention of outsourcing. The idea of outsourcing causes some to conjure worst-case scenarios, such as the loss of U.S. jobs, or the difficulty in communicating with a person in another country regarding a problem.

Many different worries crop up when the work being outsourced is legal in nature - including confidentiality, ethics, and the relevance of lawyers and support staff in a constantly-changing legal community.

Not surprisingly, legal outsourcing companies don't see the cause for alarm.

In fact, these businesses contend they only want to help attorneys be more efficient, expand their practices and save money, not displace them. Detroit-based LegalEase Solutions, LLC, is one such company.

Founded in 2004, LegalEase was formed with the aim of providing firms with a "competitive edge by adding to their capacity without an increase in their infrastructure costs," says the business' president and general counsel Tariq Hafeez.

Though LegalEase is headquartered in Michigan, it also has an office in India, where much of its work is done.

Moreover, much of LegalEase's staff is comprised of Indian attorneys.

In addition to its U.S. attorneys, LegalEase's "offshore attorneys are qualified from the top law schools in India," the company said in a 2005 interview with the Detroit Legal News. Of course, the idea of a non-American attorney working on a legal document might alarm some attorneys and clients, but LegalEase stresses it conducts "a very stringent and robust initial training program on U.S. constitutional law and the use of online legal databases like LexisNexis."

As "foreign" as it may seem to American lawyers, using foreign and foreign-based attorneys to do American legal research is not unique to LegalEase. Many companies are doing it.

Dhraj Aggarwal of India's Economical Services says his company employs the services of Indian attorneys who are "graduates of the top law schools of India," but "can work on the law of most countries" because the company is an "Internet-based research organization."

Touting India as one of the "most preferred outsourcing destinations," Aggarwal stated his company was capable of serving as a "back-office to U.S.-based attorneys" by providing them with "high- quality, low-cost work." Hafeez concurs, saying his staff functions as "virtual associates" who are "available 24/7."

This availability allows attorneys to then "take on more work or spend time doing what's most important to their practice," without having to increase their overhead costs, he explained.

Further, Hafeez points out each project his attorneys work on is checked and re-checked before an American attorney employed by LegalEase gives the go-ahead for the work to be given to an attorney- client.

Nevertheless, Hafeez cautioned that "the onus lies on the attorneys to review all the work we provide them before they choose to use it."

For those who are interested in off-shoring legal work for cost and efficiency reasons, but are not entirely comfortable with the idea of sending sensitive legal material into the hands of a non- U.S. attorney, the legal outsourcing market provides at least one option.

According to CEO and managing counsel Steven Ettinger, Israel- based SuperLaw not only helps small firms "work larger" by providing them with the "big-firm advantage," but boasts a staff of nearly 50 American attorneys who live and work in Israel.

He explained that all SuperLaw "counselors are American law school graduates, admitted in at least one state, and average more than 10 years of experience."