Outsourcing of legal processes seen as a permanent trend in the legal industry
Legal consulting firm Altman Weil released its fifth annual Survey of Law Firms in Transition, which revealed that since the survey’s inception in 2009, there has been greater acceptance of legal outsourcing as a business driver. In the survey, nearly 50% of LF leaders believe that outsourcing of legal work is now a “persistent trend,” which has increased significantly from just over 10% in 2009. LPO adoption is even higher among big enterprises. For example, nearly 20% of firms with 250 or more attorneys are “currently looking” for legal outsourcing (up from 6% in 2010). And, the use of contract attorneys is even higher: 87% of large firms “currently seek” the use of contract attorneys, which is an increase from 57% in 2010.
Outsourcing Experiences at Growth Spurt
In general, the goals of outsourcing have always been to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and gain a competitive advantage. With this in mind, LF has been outsourcing non-legal work, such as IT support, finance and accounting, and help desk operations, for many years. Since the Great Recession began in 2009, law firms and in-house legal departments have been exploring legal process outsourcing as a strategy to achieve these same goals. Among the most commonly outsourced legal services are document review, legal research and writing, and patent services.
Now, onshoring has emerged as a new twist on the traditional LPO model. Some large LFs based in high-cost major metropolitan areas have begun to relocate a variety of their administrative or support operations and employees to less expensive regions of the US that offer lower cost of living and wages, as well as access to potential groups. new hires. This new strategy is helping LF to operate more efficiently and profitably, which is the ultimate goal for most large companies, particularly those that experienced major setbacks during the economic downturn.
Law firms must be “lean and mean”
Today, most LFs would cite profitability as their most challenging problem. By properly leveraging the best in-house talent and outsourcing the rest of the ancillary services, LF can focus on core competencies, control expenses, eliminate waste, and deliver greater value to clients. By finding the right legal process outsourcing provider, whether offshore or offshore, a business can develop a long-term symbiotic relationship that positively impacts the bottom line. As companies continue to think creatively about outsourcing as a business tool, legal outsourcing will continue its evolution from “permanent trend” to “permanent strategy.”