10.30.07
Legal Process Outsourcing - how to make it grow
In recent years, legal fees of major law firms have grown dramatically, both on a per-attorney and per-matter basis. Individual attorney fees can be as high as $300/hour for a first year attorney. For complex mergers and acquisitions, litigations and patent prosecutions, fees can easily reach into seven figures. This growth has historically gone unchecked and has been begrudgingly accepted by institutional clients. But things are beginning to change – and, like in many industries, outsourcing is playing a key role.
Outsourcing of legal services is not a new concept. It is, however, just beginning its exponential growth. Fed in part by the undisciplined increase in firm fees, in part by industries growing comfort with outsourcing and in part because of improving skills and capabilities in the marketplace, high growth in this market is a given. Full exploitation of these capabilities, however, has been delayed by several factors, including in-house counsel reluctance and perverse incentives for law firms. As processes and methodologies improve, in-house reluctance will ultimately decrease and in-house counsel will, for economic reasons, lead the charge to offshore services.
