Monday, November 22, 2010

Thomson Reuters Embraces Legal Process Outsourcing

Thomson Reuters announced last Thursday that they'd aquired a leading legal outsourcing company, Pangea3, in a move that according to the compnay:

"Gives Thomson Reuters a leadership position in the fast-growing legal process outsourcing market."

Reuters' press release notes that:
  • Peter Warwick, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters Legal, said legal process outsourcing will be key to helping law firms and corporate legal departments be more responsive and cost-effective.
  • The acquisition is true to their mission to help the legal system perform better, every day, worldwide; we will now bring to the legal marketplace a responsive, high-quality, transformative resource for a broad range of legal support work.
  • This is particularly important as law firms and general counsel adjust to the realities of the 'new normal,' where efficiency, quality and responsiveness are paramount," he noted.
  • The LPO marketplace is growing at more than 20 percent annually and projected to exceed U.S. $1 billion this year.
The ABA Journal reported that:

"Thomson Reuters already has about 8,400 employees in India, but this would apparently be the first time the company would be providing legal services themselves, rather than just legal information and consulting services to law firms and other legal providers. The move into providing legal services – and, at least in a small way, competing with its own legal information clients – comes at an interesting time, as the United Kingdom readies to allow companies to invest in law firms next year."

It is definitely an interesting development, but one that is clearly consistent with the Reuters' strategy "to develop world-class information, software and workflow solutions for legal professionals around the world."

Because legal process outsourcing fits squarely under the heading of "Workflow Solutions."

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