Tuesday, August 28, 2007

How To Keep Your Job Onshore

An ever-wider variety of white-collar jobs is being sent offshore. Here's how to make sure yours isn't one of them

How do you keep from being Bangalored? Or Shanghaied? That's the question Valparaiso University freshman Matt Cavin asked himself two years ago when he was in China on a summer study program. Young Chinese were intently studying English, science, and math. One day, when he was sitting by a lake reading Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat, a Chinese student approached, wanting to practice his English. As they talked, Cavin mulled Friedman's message about U.S. jobs moving to low-cost countries such as India and China, and he had an epiphany: "I started thinking about what it means to be in active competition with kids overseas. I realized I had to set myself apart."

When he returned to the U.S., Cavin mapped out an ambitious self-improvement program. Gone was his theology major. In its place, when he graduates next spring, he'll have no fewer than three bachelor's degrees: international business, economics, and Mandarin. Cavin, 21, sees plenty of opportunities. He isn't running scared. But he's running.

Read full article in www.businessweek.com

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Friday, August 10, 2007

Ethics Opinions Allow Foreign Legal Outsourcing

Lawyers and clients must weigh cost savings, quality, duty to supervise

Bar committees in New York City, San Diego County, and Los Angeles County have ruled, expressly or implicitly, that lawyers may contract with foreign lawyers not admitted to practice in any jurisdiction in the United States, or with nonlawyers outside the United States, to perform legal work for U.S. clients. These authorities hold that foreign legal outsourcing does not constitute aiding the unauthorized practice of law. NYCBA Formal Op. 2006-3; SDCBA Formal Legal Ethics Op. 2007-1; LACBA Ethics Op. 518.

Outsourcing ‘will expand exponentially because of discovery costs.’


The New York City bar opinion notes that outsourcing overseas “has begun to command attention in the legal profession, as corporate legal departments and law firms endeavor to reduce costs and manage operations more efficiently.” Some market research firms project that tens of thousands of U.S. legal jobs soon will be outsourced to low-cost countries, with the majority of jobs going to India.

Read full article in American Bar Association

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