India has definitely come a long way in the eyes of the world and especially the United States. A few decades ago, India was considered just one among many underdeveloped countries in the world. Being a huge country with great challenges, a considerable part of India is still economically behind, but India’s select intellectual and professional communities can compete with the best in the world. So today more and more US based law firms regularly outsource legal research and other legal/paralegal services to India and Indian LPO business is one of the new areas that surely It will flourish over the years. . India has become an outsourcing destination for the world and is a leader in the service industry and is slowing down but safely moving up the value chain. A large pool of educated professionals ready to work for lower wages (by international standards) enables outsourcing of the legal work process to India so that developed countries like the US and Canada can save substantially (often up to a 60%) on the increasing cost. litigation
Outsourcing to India had started with medical transcription and was closely followed by call centers and IT outsourcing and other types of BPO (business process outsourcing). These have now paved the way for KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) and LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing). In the US there have been moves to choose Israel as an alternative destination for legal process outsourcing as well, so let’s hope it sparks some healthy competition. What are the types of LPO services that legal process outsourcing companies offer? Commonly seen services generally include,
- Preparation of Case Summaries
- Legal analysis report
- Document recovery
- customer position paper
- Legal research/analysis
- intellectual property analysis
- law surveys
- Rules in different jurisdictions in the US
- Legal Documentation / Transcript
- Legislative History Research
Top tier law firms that focus on LPOs in India are capable of investigating almost any legal issue and can provide services as required by clients in the US or Canada. LPO is a great new way to reduce the cost of litigation in the US It helps the client as well as the law firms.
During the 2004 presidential election, there was a great outcry in the US against outsourcing to India. In fact, it was one of the main topics of discussion during the presidential campaign. However, now in 2008 this is not the case and this is a sure indicator that outsourcing in countries like India is being accepted as a long term reality.
