How to Outsource Legal Work at Your Law Firm?

Before seeking an answer to how to or rather the modalities of outsourcing legal work at your law firm, it will be first relevant to know why should you outsource at all. This is because only after you have clearly defined the areas that need to be outsourced can a specific process be worked out.

Legal outsourcing is a comparatively new phenomenon that arose due to tragic circumstances. The global recession of a couple of decades back saw economies of even developed countries reeling under financial depression. The magnitude of the problem can be understood by the fact that many blue-chip companies and even long-established financial institutions went bust and sank without a trace. Companies and hundreds and thousands of individuals went bankrupt and had to take legal recourse.

In a strange twist in the scenario, law firms were inundated with work but did not have the manpower to tackle this rush. With the slump at its peak, neither could they afford to hire lawyers at lucrative salaries. The only way out was to take the external assistance of legal support services and this is when the route to outsourcing legal processes came into existence.

It is another matter though that this legal outsourcing sector today is one of the strongest in the outsourcing industry. If law firms have to delve into the secrets that can help them grow at a quick rate the answer will be outsourcing, outsourcing and yet more outsourcing of their legal services. There is nothing that can matter more. As the owner of a law firm, you have to spin off large sections of your work to companies that have equally qualified lawyers with enough experience to optimize the work allotted to them.

Coming back to how to outsource legal work at your law firm, two things should be analyzed and kept in mind. The first is defining the work that you should outsource and the second, choosing a provider that will optimize your needs.

What Legal Tasks Can be Outsourced?

While deciding on it, the focus is to select work that does not require your direct intervention but which forms a crucial part of your backup support. This can be almost anything apart from direct client interaction and court appearances. You can decide to outsource all or a part of the following functions.

• Document Review – This is a highly manpower-intensive activity and includes preparing deposition summaries, coding of documents, and other related work. Most importantly it is a very tedious process on which hours have to be spent. By keeping it to yourself, you deprive valued customers of the undivided attention they deserve from you. Further, by opting for an outsourcing document review service that offers competitive rates without compromising on the quality of output, you stand to save substantially too. This can be more profitably used for business expansion and development.
• Contract Management – This is a very intricate issue and one that requires a lot of undivided attention. After going through all contracts that come up before you with a fine toothcomb, you’ll hardly have time for anything else. Free yourself up by getting reputed and experienced legal support services to take up this activity on your behalf. By outsourcing of contracts management, you will ensure that not only will the initial work of drawing up and scrutiny of contracts be taken care of, their monitoring too will continue throughout the lifecycle of the contracts.
• Research and Legal Drafting – This aspect is purely based on the tenets of law without any need for specific interpretations. However, it is very tedious and painstaking work and will keep your lawyers engaged fruitlessly when they can be better utilized in client servicing. Further, the quantum of research and legal drafting depends a lot on the number of cases that you are handling. By hiring lawyers or interns to do this work you can complete your work as per temporary need but will have excess idle staff during off-season periods when business is low. When compared to rates offered for research and legal drafting by legal outsourcing agencies, your salary figures will surely be much higher.

How to Choose a legal service provider? 

Choose a legal service provider with care as the very success of your outsourcing depends on it. Here are some points to look out for.

• Provider that can match your needs – Once you have identified the processes that you want to outsource, look for and choose a provider that can match your requirements. The first discussions should be of a consultative nature, focusing primarily on the expertise and professionalism of their manpower and experience in this line. Ask for testimonials and a list of other clients to verify their standing in this sector.
• Visit their site – Even in this era of remote connectivity, it is necessary to visit their site. You should get personal satisfaction by seeing firsthand what you are getting into. Further, face-to-face meetings with Managers to thrash out any issue is necessary. Also, be clear about your requirements such as periodical reports and anything similar related to the tracking of their activities.

By following these points, you can be sure that you will have a very successful outsourcing experience for your law firm.

One of the leaders in the legal outsourcing industry is Cogneesol. We have a team of highly trained and experienced lawyers well conversant with the various laws in various countries around the world. For the best in legal support services write to us at [email protected] or call +1-646-688-282.

Also Read: Legal Process Outsourcing Market Analysis By USA and Segment Forecast 2016 – 2024 – Infographic