Outsourcingoverseas. means that a company’s work is being performed by an external company in another country   A Legal Process Outsourcing company or an LPO is a company that provides the required legal services to companies and law firms overseas, mainly in the U.S. and Europe, although other countries such as Australia and Canada are also joining the bandwagon. Today outsourcing or offshoring as it is sometimes called, is taking place all over the world, the more common locations being India, China, The Philippines, Eastern Europe, South America and some such other English-speaking low-cost-labour countries.

An international company or a law firm outsources their work for a variety of reasons, the primary reason being cost reduction. This is so because lawyers in India charge a trifle compared to their U.S./U.K. counterparts. For e.g., an U.S. attorney charges $120-150 per hour where in India the same job costs $20-30 per hour. Another tremendous saving for these companies is in the price of office space. For e.g., as said by Russel Smith, Chairman and founder of SDD Global Solutions, a Mysore-based LPO, in U.S., many traditional law firms locate their people in expensive offices in the largest cities of the West. This has led to a situation where most of each dollar charged to their clients is for office rent. By contrast the cost-per-square-foot of SDD Global’s office building is 1/43rd the cost of inferior space in midtown Manhattan. Consequently, international companies and law firms save at least up to 50% in their legal fees with no compromise in quality by outsourcing their more mundane but nonetheless time-consuming tasks of legal practice to an Indian LPO. Secondly, by outsourcing the routine work, law firms of the West get more time to focus on the core issues. Also, India is ahead in time of countries like U.S./U.K., so when lawyers there head home from work, a fresh staff of lawyers in India start their work which will be available to the Western attorneys when they start work the next day. With no time thus being wasted, their legal work speeds up.

Legal process outsourcing in India has come a long way from being restricted to only legal transcription jobs. However, even so, it logically follows that work done in an LPO is routine legal work of an international corporate or an international law firm that can be outsourced such as paralegal work, research support, review, e-discovery, legal publishing, drafting standardized contracts, litigation support (coding, deposition preparation & digesting, review etc.), corporate due diligence etc. An LPO is not a law firm. Its work is diverse involving quantitative/low-skilled tasks, qualitative/skill-intensive tasks, legal transcription, drafting contracts, research memoranda, pleadings and briefs whether it be in litigation support, corporate law, real estate or intellectual property rights, etc.

Since the nature of work done by a lawyer in an LPO is so monotonous, the job profile doesn’t offer good prospects when compared to law firms. Sometimes these lawyers are required to work night shifts too. And the job is so routine that practicing law professionals aren’t attracted to LPOs. This work is not challenging enough and hence fails to attract the best talent since undertaking research does not add much value to a CV. The work experience gained in an LPO will not be considered by an Indian law firm if one later applies to a law firm. Again, some Indian lawyers feel that working in an LPO would amount to practicing the law of foreign countries which won’t be very useful if one later decides to join traditional Indian legal practice. Also, many LPOs, in spite of their capacity to undertake high-end legal work, end up performing back-end, secretarial and quasi-legal jobs (that too for a foreign company) such as maintaining and updating databases and filing, docketing and proof-reading documents. These jobs offer few or no opportunities for a legal career advancement. Whatever growth that may be there will be there in the LPO industry itself. Also some fear that it might not be possible to chalk out a long term career in an LPO, mainly because of the nature of its work.

But it is not all disadvantages; working in an LPO has its own perks. For one, work in an LPO will ensure that law graduates will not be merely pushing senior lawyers’ suitcases well into their 30s before they start getting any clients of their own, neither is there any nepotism in play as may happen with many law firms in India even today. Employment in an LPO is based purely on meritocracy. Thus if one is not much interested in following the traditional Indian legal career path by going into litigation or corporate law, LPOs give a sound alternative. Secondly, LPOs offer superior compensation to young attorneys earlier in their careers. For e.g., a good and established LPO in a metropolitan city may offer freshers Rs.25,000-30,000 as their starting salary. Thirdly, employees in an LPO are reviewed without regard to gender/personal connections and high performers are given additional responsibilities adequate with their skills. Fourthly, exposure to international law and business gained in an LPO is perceived by some as a good opportunity to learn more about various legal systems and may perhaps act as a stepping stone to actual work or study abroad. Then there are some other attractions also like LPOs tend to provide high quality working conditions in modern offices plus perks like air-conditioning, flexible work schedules, complimentary food and beverages, and recreational facilities. All these factors have helped place the LPO industry in a favorable light when compared to a majority of traditional legal jobs available in India.

To work in an LPO, no special skills or knowledge is required, all that is required is a law degree and a good working knowledge of the English language. Training in the foreign countries’ law is provided to employee lawyers in an LPO, before they can start their work, by law professors or lawyers of the respective foreign country. Since 2003, when there were just a handful of LPOs in India, today there are over 100. Leading among them are Pangea3 (Mumbai), G.B.Law Solutions (New Delhi), Quislex (Hyderabad), New Galaxy Partners (Pune), Integreon, Mindcrest (Mumbai, Pune) to name a few. There are also some promising new entrants such as Bodhi Global (Mumbai, Pune), SDD Global Solutions (Mysore), Verist Research, Lawscribe among many others. LPOs have been known to take graduates from premier law schools like the National Law School of Bangalore, Symbiosis/ILS of Pune, GLC in Mumbai etc. Some LPOs like Pangea3 in Mumbai also provide internships to law students.
In conclusion, whether a long-term career in an LPO is really a viable option or not is yet unknown as this industry is still in its nascent stages. But one thing is for certain that the LPO sector in India is surely no short-term phenomenon. According to a recent study by U.S. based Forester Research, Indian revenues from legal process outsourcing is ascertained to grow from $146 million (for 2006) to reach $640 million by end 2010. This sector employed around 7,500 lawyers as of end 2006 and is expected to throw up to 32,000 jobs by 2010 and by 2015 a whopping $4 billion and 79,000 jobs. Also India is recognized the world over as the best place to outsource their legal work to since lawyers here get their legal education in the English language; also employee lawyers here do seem to enjoy their job and work with much enthusiasm, honesty and deliver quality work, at low costs. Work in an LPO is undoubtedly no match for work in a law firm or as an independent lawyer, however with LPOs, job options are definitely increasing which is an understated boon for an over-populated country like India. At the end of the day, whether to join an LPO or not is a personal choice. But if one does decide to join an LPO, it is advisable to first research about the potential employer - who its founders are, what work they do etc.- as due to this sudden boom in this sector, not all LPOs may be genuine or worth it.