tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135793312009-07-08T22:39:28.688-04:00Providing in-house counsel and firm-based attorneys with legal support services, including pre-litigation support, legal research and writing, deposition summaries, drafting of memoranda, contract and document review, preparation of pleadings and briefs, discovery, patent services, and more.LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-68192070908979712572009-06-30T17:44:00.016-04:002009-07-02T10:00:14.614-04:00

Law.com recently profiled the growing implementation of apprenticeship programs for first-year attorneys.Notable firms across the country embracing the apprenticeship model include Howrey; Philadelphia's Drinker Biddle & Reath; labor firm Ford & Harrison; Ohio/Kentucky firm Frost Brown Todd; and Dallas' Strasburger & Price."Firms are putting new recruits through additional apprenticeship programs

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-54923691791174902172009-06-19T10:00:00.003-04:002009-06-19T10:05:50.015-04:00

Marketplace, a radio program run on many NPR stations, recently discussed how the sour economy was eliminating engineering jobs at a faster rate than many other professionals, with high profile companies looking to offshore their engineers.Obviously, this sounds very familiar to legal professionals.Interestingly, the American Society of Civil Engineers read the writing on the wall long enough ago

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-86436747081351495212009-06-12T17:14:00.010-04:002009-06-12T18:02:48.695-04:00

The New York Times ran an article last week on how the most venerable law firms -- we're talking multinational, centuries old, most upper of the upper crust firms -- continue to purge their ranks in unprecedented fashion.As anyone who is paying attention knows, the landscape of how legal work is organized and delivered is shifting beneath us as we speak. What no one knows exactly is how it's

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-38277082158027374962009-06-06T16:19:00.000-04:002009-06-06T16:19:30.272-04:00

The unbundling of traditional legal offerings -- which is an emerging trend central to Richard Susskind's recent book The End of Lawyers -- has been a hot topic in these parts lately.The idea of different legal services becoming available in new venues and formats is one that we're seeing manifest itself in a number of ways from web-based companies offering legal forms, legal facts,

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-1037581288896579342009-05-29T14:55:00.007-04:002009-05-29T15:35:03.487-04:00

Law.com's Legal Blog Watch summarizes a recent study of emerging trends for contract lawyers conducted by The Posse List. In regards to Legal Process Outsourcing, they write: "Though firms are under pressure to cut costs, data security and quality of work are two key deterrents to sending projects to India. Still, Bufithis notes that "off-shoring is not going away." It's moving toward a blended

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-86039975332930468182009-05-22T10:01:00.002-04:002009-05-22T10:01:27.199-04:00

Another dispatch from the front line of the rapidly shifting landscape of legal outsourcing and offshoring.Virtual law firms are not a new or particularly cutting-edge idea. A wikipedia page on virtual law firms notes that they have been around since 2004. And, if you think about it, even having a wikipedia page probably precludes any sort of "underground" status.The ABA's Law Practice Today

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-8926976076947506132009-05-15T08:56:00.007-04:002009-05-17T11:35:11.757-04:00

When United States attorneys evaluate the efficiencies and savings of outsourcing certain legal tasks, they find themselves weighing the merits of two different LPO business models: The entirely offshore model versus the blended onshore/offshore model.While an entirely offshore model connects the client directly with the offshore office, the blended onshore/offshore model inserts a layer of

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-15030270459654482832009-05-08T10:00:00.001-04:002009-05-08T10:00:35.479-04:00

LegalEase Solutions and one of the company's founders, Tariq Hafeez, were profiled recently as a Michigan based business in the Ann Arbor Business Review. A few of the topics touched upon...The ABA's approval of legal process outsourcing:"He said the industry was boosted by an August 2008 ruling from the American Bar Association's ethics committee outlining lawyers' responsibilities in

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-7353794769037426612009-05-01T13:19:00.000-04:002009-05-01T13:19:57.113-04:00

Still ruminating on our recent post regarding the commoditization of some legal services.The commoditization is coming hand in hand with the unbundling of legal services. Some legal tasks, which historically have been conducted en masse in one office, are being fragmented and driven down the workflow pyramid to their most cost efficient layer -- even if that layer is in another zip code.This

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-38988321679800822672009-04-24T07:22:00.011-04:002009-04-24T10:03:45.988-04:00

And then there are developments that no one saw coming.A few years worth of both professional and academic studies, articles, and books weighing in on the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of Legal Process Outsourcing, and the LPO sector received its most high-profile, mainstream splash of exposure this week thanks to...?Sacha Baron Cohen. That's right. Borat. Ali G. Bruno.This past week,

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-5049498083830634562009-04-16T16:40:00.015-04:002009-04-17T11:46:01.931-04:00

Every now and then an idea or meme seems to catch fire and become ubiquitous in a very short time. In the past couple weeks, discussions and examples of the growing commoditization of legal services has come from a number of fronts.Marketing pushes from consumer-targeted, off-the-shelf legal forms companies like LegalZoom, LawDepot, and USLegalForms are examples of legal products replacing

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-68184193425826576852009-04-09T12:34:00.003-04:002009-04-10T09:48:22.864-04:00

Any conversation about which legal processes are prime candidates for outsourcing must also include evaluating work that is less suitable for outsourcing.Obviously, LegalEase Solutions believes wholeheartedly in the value of targeted legal process outsourcing, but by the same token it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that some legal work is not efficiently outsourced.A quick review of

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-23361883752657646962009-04-03T09:55:00.004-04:002009-04-03T10:32:48.674-04:00

There was a very comprehensive overview on the state of the Legal Process Outsourcing market in the March issue of the India Business Law Journal. Industry leaders from top LPO's were interviewed, including LegalEase Solution's CEO Tariq Akbar. Here are some of the highlights of the subjects addressed, as well as observations about the industry quoted from the article:The cost factor. "

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-41767403417478251692009-03-27T09:46:00.001-04:002009-03-27T09:49:09.914-04:00

There is an interesting trend developing lately in terms of how large law firms are adapting their business models to incorporate LPO. Interesting, because it's evolving in a way few had predicted.If you sort legal offices into three general categories, they shake out like this: In-house corporate counsel, large corporate law firms, and small/medium sized private practices. In many peoples'

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-33045121821724462302009-03-20T10:25:00.003-04:002009-03-20T10:36:13.664-04:00

We've discussed the tangible, hard-wired aspects of protecting client confidentiality through data security -- the systems an LPO needs to have in place to control data collection, as well as access and utilization.The other aspect of protecting client confidentiality is a bit, well, squishier. It's not the binary, flow-chart dictated, password protected black and white of data systems. Instead

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-49086920638066020912009-03-13T11:02:00.003-04:002009-03-13T11:10:39.203-04:00

There are a number of components to ensuring data security within an LPO. We’ve discussed the importance of onshore servers for housing all data.One fundamental purpose of the onshore server is to allow offshore access to information without actually capturing that information. Furthering the safeguard against third-party personnel capturing any data is the implementation of the paperless

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-27843507194325530632009-03-06T14:24:00.003-05:002009-03-06T14:30:29.563-05:00

During March we’ll be discussing part two of our series Ethical Imperatives For An LPO: Protecting Client Confidentiality. And a key component to protecting confidentiality is data security. For U.S. attorneys considering the value of outsourcing legal work to an LPO, there is one question that must come first regarding data security: Are the LPO’s servers on U.S. soil? All other

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-38045986550611361202009-02-27T12:59:00.008-05:002009-02-27T13:52:40.187-05:00

The economic downturn recently made its presence emphatically felt throughout the legal community -- with more than 1,100 attorneys pink slipped in a single day, February 12. Call it Black Thurdsay or call it the Valentines Day Massacre, the underlying fact remains: These were uncharacteristically extreme – and very public – cost cutting measures from a traditionally conservative, even-keel

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-12818162030443334492009-02-20T12:51:00.006-05:002009-02-20T13:07:41.745-05:00

We’ve discussed the ethical obligation an LPO has to protect counsel and counsel’s clients from conflicts of interest, as well as the need for a comprehensive conflict checking form to capture searchable data. Once that data is collected, a mechanism must be in place to allow sufficient cross-referencing to detect potential conflicts. Companies have essentially three types of options in

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-32437455190337477172009-02-13T12:00:00.005-05:002009-02-13T12:08:52.124-05:00

LPOs have a professional and ethical duty to the counsel they support to protect both counsel and the counsel’s clients from conflicts of interest. The ABA’s Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7 states: “A legal outsourcing company should have a conflicts checking procedure in place that… includes avoidance of a concurrent conflict of interest with a client already engaged, and avoidance of a

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-63046257136262559132009-02-06T11:45:00.003-05:002009-02-06T11:52:30.347-05:00

Every business assesses the obstacles in its path – hurdles that can range from a crowded marketplace to shifting customer trends to a lack of eyeballs. From the perspective of a Legal Process Outsourcing firm, one of those hurdles is attorney reticence.In-house counsel and firm-based attorneys both share a strong and altogether appropriate sense of loyalty to their clients. So when an attorney

LegalEase Solutions LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03722243193872735083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-45775929204523790662009-01-12T06:41:00.001-05:002009-01-12T06:48:15.559-05:00

21 Nov 2008, 0406 hrs IST, Nikhila Henry, TNNHYDERABAD: The global meltdown has turned a boon for legal services industry in the costs, they are searching for cheap and good quality legal aid through legal process outsourcing companies (LPOs). Around 100 LPOs have come up in the city in the last one year, a CEO of an LPO told TOI. Interestingly, around 70 per cent of them mushroomed in the past

seema sarathkumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275919133461275483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-91368524292494957102009-01-12T06:37:00.001-05:002009-01-12T06:40:50.643-05:00

By outsourcing to Indian vendors, companies can save about 70 per cent in costs vis-À-vis law firms in America.Adith Charlie; Posted Sep 29, 2008.Mumbai, Sept 28 : At a time when the off-shoring industry is plagued with instances of employee lay-offs, companies providing legal process outsourcing (LPO) services are on a hiring spree as demand for litigation services from the US rises.In the next

seema sarathkumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275919133461275483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-68591158547071622022009-01-08T00:21:00.001-05:002009-01-08T00:21:51.639-05:00

LPOs bloom as other sectors wiltBy: Chandran IyerDate: 2008-12-29Pune: To cut costs and tackle recession, US companies look at Legal Process Outsourcing units in India; Sector expects a growth of 60 to 70 per cent in 2009BLOODBATH on the Wall Street, particularly with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the takeovers of Merrill Lynch and AIG, has made most business sectors, including IT and

seema sarathkumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275919133461275483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13579331.post-21488927763208294342009-01-08T00:15:00.001-05:002009-01-08T00:18:06.887-05:00

Recession in US is good news for LPOs in India6 Nov 2008, 0440 hrs IST, Ravi Teja Sharma , ET BureauNEW DELHI: At least one section of industry isn’t unhappy about the meltdown. The recession in the US is good news for the $200-250 million legalprocess outsourcing (LPO) industry in India. While outsourcing of litigation work from the US and Europe has increased considerably, what is interesting

seema sarathkumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275919133461275483noreply@blogger.com0