Outsourcing

Smaller law firms are beginning to see real benefits and savings from outsourcing non-legal services, research has suggested. A survey by IRN Research of 36 firms with 10 partners or fewer found that just under half of them are outsourcing some non-legal activities.

Little more than few hundred yards away from Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, where England play Algeria tonight, are the offices of Exigent, the company at the forefront of proving that business and legal process outsourcing (BPO/LPO) is not a purely Indian phenomenon.

The legal process outsourcing (LPO) market is set to triple in size over the next five years, driven almost exclusively by US and UK lawyers, it has been predicted. Research and analytics firm Evalueserve said the need to become more efficient because of the Legal Services Act and specifically alternative business structures “is expected to boost the LPO industry” in the UK.

Legal process outsourcing reached a new level today after City firm CMS Cameron McKenna signed a 10-year, £583 million deal with Integreon for its “middle office” services, which it claims is the largest ever deal in the legal market and has received the endorsement of Professor Richard Susskind.

Top law firms are outsourcing as much to elsewhere within the UK as they are to India and South Africa, new research has found. Litigation support was the most popular service, followed by knowledge management, legal process and secretarial/typing work.