#Offshore Spotlight: #Legal Process #Outsourcing (#LPO)

The legal industry is under extreme pressure to make themselves more efficient, so says Gururaj Potnis, director, Manthan Legal; an offshore LPO (from an Above The Law Blog article: Outsourcing: What Indian Firms Have Planned for the Future of Biglaw).

LPO, or Legal Process Outsourcing, offers similar advantages to other forms of outsourcing. By allowing a company, in this case a law firm, to focus on their core-skills, they can move routine and labor intensive activities offshore for cost savings. Or better said, for increased efficiency and higher margins.

Potnis continues by stating they do not handle legal opinion, and often handle the work of more junior level lawyers - with subsequent handling by the Legal firms senior partner:

Consider a single plaintiff case, like a title VII case. The process is pretty well defined. You review documents, analyze depositions, produce a statement of facts, a memorandum of law ... 80% of that work is junior associate level work. Then, once you have a a first draft, that's when you bring in a senior partner for their expertise.

And LPO is not just for large firms, as 80% of Mathan' clients are less than 100 employees. For smaller firms, LPO may enhance their ability to compete for larger projects usually handed to their larger brethren.

It's all about increasing your competitiveness and saving money - by being efficient and nimble.