Saturday, December 30, 2006

Techno-Legal Education in India

This post was written by Praveen Dalal on 28 December, 2006 (10:54) | All News, Research News, Society and Culture, Business News, Blogosphere News, India News, Technology News, Education News

I. Introduction
The law regulates the social interests, arbitrates conflicting claims and demands security of persons and property of the people and is an essential function of the state. It could be achieved through instrumentality of law. Undoubtedly, there is a cross cultural conflict where living law must find answer to the new challenges. Therefore, law as a corner stone of the edifice of order should meet the challenges confronting the society.[1] One such challenge that is confronting the present legal system of India is the integration of law with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The same can be achieved if we pay attention at the grassroot level, i.e. at the level of inculcation of legal education. Thus, law colleges and institutions must pay adequate attention towards revising their syllabus as per the contemporary requirements of ICT.
With an English speaking skilled legal force, India is undoubtedly the best destination for the following:
(a) Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO),
(b) Legal Business Process Outsourcing (Legal BPO),
(c) Legal Knowledge Process Outsourcing (Legal KPO), etc.
The gradual shift from legal BPO to legal KPO is posing a big challenge to Indian outsourcing industry as we are running short of “legal experts” who can manage domain specific problems. Although the requirements of legal BPO can be met with success with simple graduates and less skilled employees, yet legal KPO requires a totally different infrastructure and manpower. Unfortunately, our educational system is not upto the mark to meet the growing and challenging demands of KPO industry. We have to change the legal educational system and structure so that domain specific experts can be produced at the University level itself.

“ The above article has been reprinted from www.bloggernews.net and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued...

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Legal research growing globally

U.S. firms using services of outsourcing companies

By Moushumi Anand
Medill News Service
Posted Thursday, December 21, 2006

Ruby Prasad’s legal research and briefs regularly find their way into courts across the United States despite the fact her workstation is located 8,000 miles away in India.

Prasad is among the 200 lawyers working for Chicago-based Mindcrest Inc., which has an outsourcing facility in Mumbai.

Mindcrest and other legal outsourcing firms are experiencing explosive growth. Mindcrest is 10 times the size it was two years ago.

According to George Hefferan, vice president and general counsel, Mindcrest plans to add 200 more employees by the end of 2007.

Atlas Legal Research, another legal outsourcing company with offices in Bangalore, India, and Fort Worth, Texas, also grew tenfold in the last two years. The company employed three attorneys in India in 2004. Today, it has 30.

“ The above article has been reprinted from www.dailyherald.com and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued.....

Friday, December 15, 2006

Only 1/3 of Corporate Clients Would Recommend Their Firms To Others

The Recorder
Vol. 130, No. 242
Copyright 2006 by American Lawyer Media, ALM, LLC

December 14, 2006

CALL FOR SERVICE: SURVEY FINDS ONLY A THIRD OF CLIENTS WOULD RECOMMEND THEIR
FIRMS

NEWS

By Zusha Elinson

Corporate America isn't very happy with its law firms. In fact, only 32 percent of executives responding to a recently released client service survey said they would recommend a firm that worked for them.

'Overall client satisfaction is very low,' said Michael Rynowecer, president of BTI Consulting Group, which released its sixth annual survey earlier this month. 'By focusing on who does well, you learn what can be done to improve that.'
Two homegrown California firms -- Morrison & Foerster and Latham & Watkins -- landed on the survey's top 30, as did two other firms with California blood, Reed Smith and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

(parts of the article have been deleted here)


MoFo also placed at the top of another list in the BTI survey: the most arrogant law firms. MoFo ranked sixth among the firms 'most often cited as being most arrogant,' behind New York firms like Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Sullivan & Cromwell, and winner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

'We're not proud of that, though we are in good company,' said Wetmore. 'It is not a surprise and it is something we are trying to change in the other direction.' The perception of arrogance stems from refusal to take on work, high fees, poor experience on the other side of a matter, and 'direct advice to the minority of clients who want advice sugar-coated,' according to the survey.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Church's Chicken outsources accounting to Indian firm

WNS in Church's Chicken Outcourcing Deal
Tuesday November 28, 1:00 pm ET
Church's Chicken Outsourcing Its Accounting to India-Based WNS

ATLANTA (AP) -- Fast-food restaurant operator Church's Chicken on Tuesday said it will partner with WNS Holdings Ltd., a business outsourcing provider with operations centers in India.
WNS will handle all of Church's financial and accounting processes; including accounts receivable, accounts payable, bank account reconciliation and ledge maintenance.

Church's said the agreement should make it more efficient and give the company the means to open 15 more restaurants during the five-year term of the contract.

WNS American Depositary Shares gained 53 cents at $34.34 on the New York Stock Exchange.

East Asia a market for legal outsourcing

Priyanka Vyas
New Delhi , Dec. 4

With companies from non-English speaking countries such as South Korea, China, and Japan requiring to file patents in the US and European courts to expand business opportunities, legal process outsourcing companies (LPOs) here have set their eyes on the markets in these regions.

"The US and the UK constitute a major chunk of our business. However, we are expecting to rope in more clients from Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia.

"We expect our revenues from the new countries to increase by 20 per cent in the next one year," said Mr Sanjay Kamlani, CEO, Pangea 3. Similarly, Integreon, a Mumbai-based legal outsourcing firm, is also spreading wings in the non-English speaking market.

Hiring Indian lawyers

Mr Balwant Rawat, Head, Intellectual Property Division at Evalueserve explains, "Since to engage US lawyers for the entire process is expensive, many would look to hiring Indian lawyers for it." In the IP domain, business from these countries is expected to double over the next two years

“ The above article has been reprinted from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same”

Monday, December 04, 2006

Legal outsourcing to offshore Jurisdictons - Part- IV

by Ian Hull


As I noted yesterday, the Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics of the Bar Association of New York City has released a formal opinion on the outsourcing of substantive legal support work overseas. The formal opinion endorses such outsourcing if certain conditions are met....

"The above article has been reprinted from http://estatelaw.hulandhull.com/ and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued....

Legal outsourcing to offshore Jurisdictons - Part- III

by Ian Hull


The outsourcing/offshoring trend in the legal profession is still relatively new, and I have not come across any comprehensive study as to its effect. However, concerns have been raised, as I noted yesterday....

"The above article has been reprinted from http://estatelaw.hullandhull.com and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued..

Legal outsourcing to offshore Jurisdictons - Part- II

by Ian Hull

Yesterday, I discussed the recent phenomenon of outsourcing of substantive legal work to lawyers in offshore jurisdictions. U.S. law firms are certainly leading the charge. I was amazed to learn that Clifford Chance, apparently the world's largest law firm, had recently announced that it would outsource much of its administrative work to India...

"The above article has been reprinted from http://estatelaw.hullandhull.com/ and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued..

Legal Outsourcing to Offshore Jurisdications

By Ian Hull

This past weekend, I was in Niagara Falls and decided to cross the border for some shopping therapy at the Buffalo area outlet malls. As I made my way from store to store, and clothing rack to clothing rack, I was struck by how many items, designer or otherwise, are manufactured in far-flung places like China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. It reminded me of the prevalence of outsourcing in today’s economy, from clothing to customer-support hotlines.

As I pondered the phenomenon of outsourcing, I thought about its use and effects on the legal profession. Could the world of law be next?...

"The above article has been reprinted from http://estatelaw.hullandhull.com/ and LegalEase Solutions LLC does not hold any rights to the same” Continued...