Balancing Workload and Budget: The Benefits of Outsourced Paralegals

What does the data say?

According to the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO): Global Strategic Business Report by Research and Markets, “In the changed post COVID-19 business landscape, the global market for Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) estimated at US$10.8 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$91.1 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 35.7% over the analysis period 2020-2027″.

Giving a geography-wise break-up, the report adds,

• The Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) market in the U.S. is estimated at US$3.1 Billion in the year 2020.
• China, the world’s second-largest economy, is forecasted to reach a projected market size of US$15.5 billion by the year 2027, trailing a CAGR of 34.5% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027.
• Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 32.5% and 30.5%, respectively, over the 2020-2027 period.
• Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 25% CAGR.

The writing on the wall is clear

Outsource.

Global disruptions due to the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have triggered severe cost-cutting and a rush for customer acquisition. This, in turn, has brought about stiff competition for market share.

Outsourcing, being a proven method to reduce inefficiencies and rationalize costs, has therefore gathered pace across every segment, including legal processes. Working under budgetary constraints, law firms/legal departments are increasingly looking at options to outsource their research functions to chart out lean operating models that will make room for more cases, reduce operational inefficiencies, and increase income both in the short and the long term.

This is where an outsourced paralegal comes into the picture.

Paralegals are the backbone of any legal team. They assist the onshore legal team as extended divisions, providing crucial backend legal services, including legal writing, legal research, contract drafting and review, and contract lifecycle management, E-discovery, document review.

Benefits of outsourced paralegals

• Lower operations costs:

Be it law firms or legal departments, the first outcome of outsourcing paralegal services is cost reduction across staff salaries, benefits, and infrastructure usage. This impacts the income and expenditure/profit and loss account favorably, enabling business expansion

• Greater operational efficiencies: 

Outsourcing paralegal services under specific service level agreements ensures faster service turnaround. In cases where such services are outsourced to a region under a different time zone, they bring the added advantage of making the most optimal use of time. These make the firm efficient and competitive and also make room for more cases

• Access to specialized services:

LPOs offer a wider scope of services than what the law firm or legal department might have in-house. This saves them from extra staffing, as well as providing the ease of seeking additional scope services on a need basis

• Leveraging technology and digital platforms: 

Most LPOs also invest heavily in legal software to service a wide range of clients. Law firms can, therefore, leverage the latest technology and digital infrastructure at a fraction of the cost than otherwise possible

Cogneesol’s paralegal offerings

Cogneesol has been a strong provider of paralegal outsourcing services to leading law firms and Fortune 500 companies across the globe for close to fifteen years now. Our team of knowledgeable professionals offers fast learning curves and swift delivery of services across technology platforms. We cover a gamut of paralegal services, including:

• Drafting of complaints responsive pleadings for personal injury law firms, employment law firms, and lemon law firms
• Discovery process
  • Drafting of requests for the production of documents
  • Drafting of request for admissions
  • Drafting of request for interrogatories
  • Responses to special interrogatories
• E-discovery
• Medical record requests letters
• Summarization of medical records and bills
• Deposition summaries
• Drafting of settlement letters and demand letters

Points to consider before outsourcing paralegal services

During the due diligence stage of outsourcing paralegal services, it is crucial to actively consider key factors. Below are the same factors to consider when drafting the service level agreements.

• Sign specific Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to safeguard attorney-client privilege and confidentiality. Your service provider should have a proven track record of being a trustworthy partner
• Adhere to jurisdictional regulations, be it at your end or at the end of the service provider. This includes laws regulating privacy and data protection

Partner with Cogneesol in your outsourcing journey

A global legal outsourcing industry leader, we at Cogneesol have been providing top-quality legal support services, in-depth legal research, and end-to-end contract management solutions to law firms, attorneys, and legal departments worldwide since 2008. Our most significant value propositions are our domain expertise, efficiency, and thoroughness of research and case management.

Read in detail about our legal process outsourcing offerings.

Contact us for a guided overview of how we can help you achieve the best results in your outsourcing journey.

Call us at +1 833 313 3143 (Toll-Free) or email at [email protected]