Ethics

The New York Times published this story today about the growth of legal process outsourcing (LPO) to India. 

The trend is far from new.  We've been discussing the ethics-related issues of LPO for a couple of years (see here, here, and here).  Moreover, the ABA's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility previously issued an opinion on the subject in 2008.  And the ABA's Ethics 20/20 Commission has created a working group that is studying the issue of outsourcing more generally, including both the foreign and domestic varieties of outsourcing.  It is easy to forget that, despite the attention that India-based outsourcing receives, the most common form of outsourcing takes place within the United States, such as through the hiring of outside contract attorneys, third-party electronic discovery or litigation services, cloud computing providers, etc.