Pros and cons of Legal Process Outsourcing and the Indian scene

Pros and cons of Legal Process Outsourcing and the Indian scene

Legal process outsourcing has become popular for many reasons and India is regarded as the best destination for outsourcing of this kind. Indian service providers offer legal support in the forms of research, document reviews, drafting of documents, making applications for patents and various paralegal and administrative tasks.

• Legal Process Outsourcing primarily gained currency as a cost effective measure. The law firms in the U.S employ attorneys who expect a payment of at least 250 dollars for their work. If the same were outsourced to India, it would mean a saving of 50 to 80 % of the costs.
• Confidentiality is indispensable for certain legal work. However, some tasks are less sensitive which lawyers elsewhere are very willing to perform for a lesser pay. These lawyers are very better qualified than their counterparts in America. Many legal firms and large corporations in America realize this advantage.
• Outsourcing has enabled legal firms and corporations in America to concentrate on their core business rather than worry about less important aspects of their activities.
• In countries like India, a new class of people has risen, well qualified and well paid (compared to people in other services). The purchasing power of this new class is very high. They go in for goods that are manufactured in America. Thus, the market for American goods has expanded. While many Americans feel that outsourcing is taking away jobs from them, they stand to gain in a more subtle manner.

Apart from offering the above advantages, India is the most sought outsourcing destination for the following reasons too.

• India offers a stable political and economic stage that is conducive to growth of the LPO industry
• India is geographically located in a time zone that is distinct to that of America and Britain. This enables India to offer round the clock legal support to those countries.
• The education system in India places emphasis on English speaking. It is the preferred medium of instruction in many law schools in the country, a factor most suited to for gaining employment in a LPO.
• The Indian Constitution was inspired by the legal systems of the U.S and U.K. Hence, the Indian lawyers and graduates have a good understanding of the legal systems of the two countries
• Technologically too, India has made rapid strides. Service providers here can make use of the advanced means of communication and high-class infrastructure Research of legal aspects for document reviews using high quality e-discovery tools is possible.

Despite these benefits, certain aspects of LPO have come in for criticism.

• Decline in the quality of work: Critics say that legal work is not limited to drafting documents or review of documents and non-legal work like billing and accounting. It is a blend of forensic, technical, and legal skills. Outsourcing cannot guarantee these skills. Quality of work becomes the first casualty
• Gaps in communication and supervision: Communications between the law firm and its client and the service provider should be clear and continuous. Offshore outsourcing of legal work entails a lot of supervision to ensure that there is proper coordination of all the aspects and the expectations of the clients are met. The service providers, critics feel, generally lack the experience and caliber that is required of them.
• Question of ethics: Law firms deal with information and cases that are confidential in nature. They cannot be shared with the service provider without risking their confidentiality. The threat of a greedy worker in the service-providing firm compromising its security is very high.

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