How Legal Support Services Can Propel Growth for Law Firms
Last updated:
18 Jan, 2024
By Ritu Kaushal |
5 Minutes Read
With sweeping changes across regulations, compliance requirements, and risk management, law firms are facing operational pressures to manage their budgets. Therefore, the need for smarter, intelligent operations is more acute now than ever before. It is clear your firm must be able to handle the present and prepare for the future. The shift, clearly, is from being reactive to being strategic.
In this changed scenario, legal support services help lawyers with their day-to-day operations to attain efficiency. With support services, legal departments can propel to the next level of preparedness with regulatory compliance and sustainable growth.
Insourcing or outsourcing is the dilemma.
Insourcing legal support services gives law firms greater control over their data and information, quality, and services. However, this model has drawbacks: increasing the demand for hiring and training additional staff and investing in technology. Additionally, bringing every capability under one roof and constantly upgrading them requires increased budgets and resources. It is a costly proposition that can eventually lead to oversized, unprofitable operating models.
Outsourcing legal support services, on the other hand, provides the necessary assistance to lawyers and legal departments. A service level agreement is made to ensure quality and timeliness, allowing you to focus on providing quality legal services,
Outsourcing is a smart decision.
Evaluating service-level agreements drawn and signed meticulously, legal services can play a crucial role here. They bring:
- Increased efficiency: Legal support services allow lawyers to delegate tasks such as document review, legal research, and administrative duties to trained professionals. In doing so, lawyers’ time is freed up to focus on more complex legal work, which results in increased efficiency and productivity.
- Cost savings: By outsourcing support services, law firms can save on staffing costs and other operational expenses, which can be passed on to clients in the form of lower legal fees.
- Improved client service: Streamlined processes improve final output and client communication, thereby helping law firms to provide better service to clients.
- Access to specialized expertise: Outsourcing legal support services provides law firms with access to specialized expertise that is costly to manage in-house. This includes legal research, e-discovery, technology, and data analytics, etc.
- Risk management: Service providers work under specific service level agreements that ensure accuracy, TaT, efficiency, and quality of delivery. They also bring in strategic coverage and adherence to proper procedures with respect to compliance with legal and ethical requirements.
Which support services are best suited for outsourcing?
Document review and finalization –
One of the most essential legal support services is document review and finalization. It involves the analysis and organization of legal documents. It includes contracts, briefs, leases, and other legal agreements to ensure accuracy and completeness.
Legal research-
Law firms can easily outsource legal research under specific parameters. It involves the systematic investigation and analysis of legal issues, cases, statutes, and regulations. Support providers conduct legal research and analysis to help attorneys prepare for cases, draft legal briefs, and provide legal opinions, thus saving their time and effort.
Discovery support-
Discovery is the pre-trial phase of a legal case where both parties exchange information and evidence related to the case. It involves the management and processing of the information and evidence exchanged during discovery. The support provider reviews and organizes documents manages databases, and assists with document production, thereby smoothening the discovery phase.
E-discovery-
A specialized type of discovery support service, e-discovery support, involves the identification, collection, processing, review, and production of electronically stored information (ESI) for use in legal proceedings. Most legal support providers are adept at e-discovery support.
Paralegal services-
This involves the drafting of legal documents, conducting legal research, and managing case files, which can save precious time for lawyers and legal teams.
Litigation support-
The litigation support forms part of a specialized legal support service and can be delivered by expert service providers. These assist attorneys with e-discovery for pleadings, briefs, and exhibits, forensic analysis, trial preparation, and technology support for database management systems and software for document review and analysis.
Legal Drafting and Analysis:
These involve the creation and review of legal documents, including contracts, pleadings, and other legal instruments. Legal service providers with a deep understanding of legal concepts and terminology can effectively communicate legal ideas and concepts to attorneys and legal teams.
How to choose the right legal support provider?
A decision to outsource should be preceded by an in-depth evaluation of support requirements and identification of scope. Choosing the right legal support provider can be a crucial decision for law firms and legal departments and should be made on the basis of a rigorous evaluation of provider capabilities, experience, costs, and reputation.
Cogneesol, a legal outsourcing company, has been offering a wide range of services to law firms and corporate legal departments for the past fifteen years. Get in touch with us at +1 833 313 3143 (Toll-Free) or drop an email at [email protected] for an overview of our offerings.