Offshore Legal Support Services : The Law Firm Reletance.

Outsourcing in the legal fraternity (I mean law firms and legal practitioners - corporate legal departments not included) has always existed and found acceptance - driven mostly by the economics of contracting attorneys or the absence of internal expertise. Obviously, the anatomy of the contractable legal resources seemingly posed no threat of competition to Law Firms. But when Outside Law Firms could not contain the economics of contract attorneys due to inadequate supply, Corporate Legal Departments felt the heat in terms of both money and timelines. Corporate Legal Departments, as always, looked at viable alternate sources elsewhere for ease of operation at justifiable costs -offshore was the answer. The offshore service providers offered to give them the advantage of both scalability and economics. .. and the rest is history being written .. the LPO boom in low cost offshore destinations such as India, Philippines and now China.

Most of the traditional Law Firms are still trying to come to terms with the new development. There is still a lot of reluctance and fear of the non-existent threat of competition from offshore legal support service providers who are neither licensed to practice in onshore jurisdictions nor would their promised economics allow them to go onshore. The typical lawyer-like thoughtful reactions are hard to come by. But it’s just a matter of time. The traditional Law Firms too would soon see the economics and join in.

This is my thought. I am optimistic. What's yours ?