LPO AND ETHICS

LPO and ethics have been always knitted together, for Legal Process Offshoring raises many questions on ethics. These were timely dealt with by American, European and many local bar Associations; which resulted in framing various Model rules of conduct for legal offshoring. Ethical issues range from legality of offshoring, quality of work, client confidentiality, charging clients for overhead cost in outsourcing and conflict in work done.

Only lawyers practicing in the country are bound by the Court of law, whereas offshoring meant legal information crossing borders to lawyers and non-lawyers not covered by the law. Addressing the ethical issue lawyers are needed to take full responsibility for the work outsourced, obliging to supervise the work outsourced and keeping a tab on the competence of the firm or the lawyer to whom the work is outsourced while assuring the work quality.

The quality of work done by non-lawyers in the outsourced firm is often a matter of regard, but the well-trained and skilful lawyers working in the LPO firms supervise and ensure quality content.

A lawyer is restricted to pass client confidences or secrets to a third party and it would require the client’s consent to do so, however the clients in many cases are reluctant to allow lawyers to share their confidential information to firms abroad. The overseas LPO Company is bound to see that the client data remains confidential in every stage. The facilities maintained by the LPO vendor for ensuring it become a very important factor in this regard.

Bar Associations has at all times voiced against over-charging clients in the pretext of offshoring. The associations argue to incorporate the offshoring expenditure in their normal fee structure to the clients. Conflict of work is a simple but notable thing to be ensured by the lawyer. A conflict checking mechanism should be maintained by the lawyer to check that no conflict arises in the work done by the outsourced firm that could be adverse to the interests of the client.

Ethics in LPO is both static and dynamic in nature, with a one time static assessment of capability and credibility of the LPO firm, and a routine dynamic process of evaluations of assigned job. Ethical issues are not to be addressed as hindrances to legal offshoring but a moral conduct that has to be maintained in the process of offshoring legal processes.

Myths and Realities of Legal Offshoring

Legal offshoring is a fast expanding industry worldwide; however several myths surround the concept. The significance of the legal provision demands addressing these issues. The emerging business volumes in the LPO industry stand testimony against the charge. The myths sometimes form a hurdle in off shoring legal work. In fact offshore outsourcing is an essential part of globalization that ensures an upper edge for many reputed legal firms in the very competitive world.

One of the primary concerns of outsourcing is the quality and the confidentiality maintained. Contrary to the myth, offshore legal service providers maintain a high quality of standards in paper work; they employ professional trained lawyers and paralegal staff and have a systematic approach to the work. The offices are maintained with necessary security systems from CCTV cameras, biometrically operated doors to secure computer networks. Confidentiality is greatly regarded by these firms to maintain the reputation in the industry. Firms offshoring work can also get the work insured against any malpractice.

Violation of Attorney-Client Privilege was a cause of apprehension in the initial years of legal outsourcing; as law accepts Attorney-Client confidentiality and exempts disclosure even in the Court of law, it was thought to breach the agreement on disclosure to a third party. Conversely various US based Bar Associations have maintained the creditability in outsourcing making the system ethical.

Many legal firms alarm of facing competition from the companies once they have access to the database of its clients. But these firms do not eye the market, they rather prefer to clench to their market of supporting the legal firms abroad. Their business infrastructure is persisted to suit the way.

Another baseless fear in the industry is about the loss of jobs. The panic could be well compared to the situation in the beginning of industrial revolution, the employment of automated machines, computers. It was well seen that such adventures lead to more jobs through methodical work. Offshoring helps legal firms to concentrate on core job increasing their efficiency and business thereby creating more employment.

Looking towards the realities over the myths of legal offshoring, it is a very important process every legal firm has to adopt to keep itself at the top of the market, sustaining themselves in the changing legal business models.

LPO = Good for Big and Medium Sized Organizations

To remain competitive, medium-sized firms in U.S and U.K are considering outsourcing their work to countries that can provide services at a lower cost, without compromising on quality. Medium-sized firms face major competitions from their respective industries and to survive among them, the key solution is to offer services at affordable cost. When the lawyers in their own countries charge exorbitant rates, achieving their target of affordable services is a far away dream unless they arrive at a suitable solution. It is at such turn of events, even medium-sized organizations consider outsourcing their work.

The basic legal services like document review in U.S law firms are expensive and costs minimum $150-$200 an hour. For the same or better quality of work, companies in countries like India charge around $20-$70 per hour. When services are available at such a fraction of the cost, we shouldn’t be surprised to see U.S and U.K based medium-sized organizations outsourcing their work to India. Especially in the case of a small or medium firm, when they are trying to provide a competitive service in their industry and the best way to reduce their cost is to outsource their work to a country, where the cost is considerably low.

When the attorney and lawyer fees within U.S are becoming increasingly unaffordable and the same high-value service is available at 20-30% of the cost, the tendency to outsource work to other countries counts as a natural phenomenon.

Medium-sized firms are happy for cutting short their expenses, otherwise spent for skilled managerial and technical resources, overhead costs and office maintenance costs. Outsourcing work helps the small and medium size firms be exposed to highly efficient and flexible talent pool, well versed in their attorney and law skills, English skills that can meet client requirements and help them sustain and grow their businesses.

We invite you to take part in the Global LPO Conference 2010 and meet your suitable vendor(s) for your small or medium-sized business. With our Breakfast Meeting, One-On-One Meeting and opportunity to evaluate vendors using Pilot Project Models, treat this opportunity as the best platform to find a cost-saving scheme for your business.

LPO Growth in Small Destinations

Small destinations are set to become major destinations for the legal offshore outsourcing industry in the future. The firms in these countries are fast developing to meet the newly found demand in the legal industry.

The monetary difference isn’t the only reason for the movement, the quality of work and the standards maintained are at par with the industry. With the advent of Information Technology, it made little distinction to outsource work to firm in the same country or overseas where the cost is far less. Many legal firms have now joined hands with global LPO companies in a bid to stay competitive reducing their overhead cost. And the recent economic recession have speeded up the decisions for the tie up.

Well trained talent pool along with the different working hours also help. Moreover, the small destinations that are taking a leap to the legal outsourcing industry also have a strong English speaking and well-educated population. They aim to serve primarily US and UK markets for legal offshoring services.

Some of the works outsourced are contract drafting and management, litigation support including e-discovery, document review and management, patent drafting support, transcription of legal data, legal research etc .

India is a major hub for legal outsourcing, said to be holding around 85 percent of the market share and the trend is tremendously growing. The present infrastructure of the legal industry in India easily adapts to the demand. A good number of efficient lawyers and paralegal staff add to its leverage. Seventy percent work for LPO firms in India comes from USA; Indian lawyers are preferred to do the paper work for their graze in grammar and writing skills. The legal system in India is based on British system enabling ease in handling technical legal work.

Philippines and India, have led the global legal outsourcing industry in the past year. And in the last one-year alone, the industry has seen a 40-50 percentage growth.

South Africa is rising to be an alternate center to India in the area of legal process outsourcing. It also projects the same advantages of the LPO industry in India.

Mauritius takes advantage of its multiple linguistic skills – English and French. Already, established in the BPO industry, and the strong workforce in both outsourcing industries, lawyers and good governmental support in their ventures, Mauritius will soon emerge as leading destination in LPO.

Governments across these countries have identified LPO as a major source of revenue and is supporting for its development. Kenyan government has initiated setting up of parks and special economic zones.

In the coming years, India is likely to face challenges from the emerging LPO destinations such as Philippines, Kenya, Mauritius and South Africa. However, the continuing demand will keep all the countries involved to have a steady growth in business. At Global LPO Conference 2010 – Buyers and Vendors Meet, buyers will have opportunity to meet vendors from these countries and find the best vendor for their business.