Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Merging your business with another company? Suing your competitor? Signing a lease on office space? In the coming years, there's a big chance someone in India will prepare your deposition or review your contract.

Legal process outsourcing, or LPO, is gaining momentum among large corporations and law firms as companies increasingly look to cut costs and work for clients seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

According to the American Bar Association Journal, there are about 100 LPO companies in India and the legal outsourcing industry there is estimated at $80 million per year. The industry is expected to reach $4 billion by 2015.

"It's still a new trend for the legal profession," said attorney Jason Epstein, chair of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC's business and technology group and a shareholder in the law firm. "Multinational corporations have been outsourcing for other purposes. LPO is the next service India is providing. It's a revolutionary step in our profession."

Memphis, Tenn.-based Baker Donelson -- which also has an office in Washington, D.C. -- is currently performing extensive research to find the right LPO company in India and company officials plan to travel there this winter to perform due diligence, Epstein said.

LPO is driven by cost savings, with American law firms realizing savings of 60 percent to 90 percent, depending on the type of legal work performed.

"We'll be at a serious disadvantage if we don't step in," Epstein said about utilizing LPO. "The question is to what extent."

Indian LPO firms provide services for a large spectrum of practice areas, from personal injury and medical malpractice to corporate law and immigration. Bangalore, India-based Manthan Legal, for example, provides several types of services in more than 10 areas of the law, including drafting of pleadings, legal research, discoveries and deposition summaries, said Gururaj Potnis, director of parent company Manthan Services.

Manthan provides business process management services to companies in the legal, retail and market research domains. Manthan Legal works with more than 85 law firms across the U.S., providing them with legal and paralegal services.

Jobs that are done in-house for $300 to $500 an hour can be done by Manthan for $100-$200 an hour, Potnis said. In addition, Manthan's 160 lawyers and 130 paralegals are working when their American peers are asleep.  (Source)