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Outsourced Legal Services

[For related on-going commentary, see the Outsourcing category of the Strategic Legal Technology blog.]

Outsourced Legal Services – Introduction and Explanation

This list of selected legal outsourcing activity was compiled and is maintained by Joy London, co-editor of Law Librarian News / excited utterances, a global electronic newsletter for law librarians and legal knowledge managers (for subscription information, e-mail Joy London) and Ron Friedmann, President of Prism Legal Consulting, Inc and author of the blog Strategic Legal Technology.

To clarify terminology, outsourcing refers to using any third party to provide services previously provided by full-time employees; offshoring refers to outsourcing to a non-domestic provider; insourcing refers to shifting work to an owned-and-operated facility that is centralized and physically separate from the rest of the organization.

In 2005, we observed a trend by US law firms and law departments to offshore legal work. We consolidated our observations into this list. We invite readers to send updates, corrections, and comments.

Our list focuses on offshoring by US and UK law firms and departments of certain substantive and administrative legal functions, specifically

  • Document drafting by lawyers
  • Legal research
  • IP legal work, substantive or administrative
  • Review of discovery documents
  • Paralegal services
  • Administrative and secretarial support services, excluding digital dictation

We do not include offshore litigation support (coding or EED) or vendor-provided technology services. Nor do we include offshore vendors without a specific legal focus. We also cover selected insourcing and domestic outsourcing.

Our inclusion criteria are loose but exclude outsourcing to US-based vendors of technology support, legal research, and copy/mail-room services, which has occurred for years and is thus of less interest to us.

Our list is neither complete nor comprehensive. We assemble it based on web research, articles we read, people we meet, and e-mail messages we receive. Each entry includes a source. Where the source is a web site, we list the URL, the date we added the site to the list, and the date we last checked the web site. Where the source is an article, we provide a citation; we have no way to track possible changes since the publication date.

Our list consists of several tables: vendors that provide LPO services, companies that we believe outsource or offshore legal work, law firms that we believe outsource or offshore work, and organizations previously listed that no longer appear involved in LPO (or appear to be out of business or were acquired).

We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections from readers. We reserve the right to post reader comments at excited utterances and/or Strategic Legal Technology unless requested otherwise. We will include selected suggestions that we receive in periodic updates.

Updates: 2/24/08; 8/19/07; 5/15/07 [compiled from 4/8/07 to 5/14/07);
1/9/07; 10/23/06; 7/15/06; 6/25/06; 12/27/05; 8/29/05; 5/15/05
New additions since last update have dates bolded
Originally Posted: April 12, 2005

Vendors Providing Offshored or Outsourced Legal Services (111 Listed )

Vendor Services Location Source | Notes Date Added
(Checked)
ACTLitigation Services Document review Philippines + US (CA, NY, PA) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Acumen Legal Services IP, contract drafting + management, litigation support + due diligence, legal research + analysis,paralegal services India Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Adec Solutions Legal research, contracts, drafting, e-discovery, IP, immigration Philippines + US (TX) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Adroit Legal Services Consulting Contract review, patent and IP, document review, legal research, word processing India Dec 06
(Apr 07)
ALMT Synergies Paralegal and secretarial support India May 05
(Apr 07)
American Discovery Document review, litigation support Philippines + US (LA) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Aphelion Legal writing, legal research, discovery mngt, document review, contract admin, word processing,conflicts checking India + US (Houston) Dec 05
(Apr 07)
Ascend Legal Solutions Paralegal services, legal research, contract drafting, IP India Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Atlas Legal Research Legal research + writing, litigation support, document review India + US (Dallas) See Briefed in BangaloreAmerican Lawyer, Nov 04 Mar 05
(Apr 07)
Bitscape IP, document review, legal research, contract drafting India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Bodhi Global litigation support, contract and document review and management, corporate due diligence, secondrequests and research India + US (NYC) May 07
(May 07)
Brigade Legal research India + US (New Bedford, MA) Aug 05
(Apr 07)
CCS Legal drafting, legal research, depo summary, paralegal, documentation India Jun 06
(Apr 07)
Cenza Contract drafting and management, document review, and word processing. India + US (NYC) Jun 06
(Apr 07)
Clairvolex Patents, legal research, contract drafting, discovery analysis, exhibit prep, word processing India Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Clutch Group Document review, due diligence, contract drafting and management, legal research, litigationsupport, legal staffing India + US (NYC, DC, Cleveland, Chicago) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Cobra Litigation support, document review India + US (Atlanta, DC, New Haven) See also Cobra firstLPO MNC to enter Chennai, The Economic Times, 1/5/07 Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Comat Technologies Paralegal support, document/record archival & retrieval, legal transcription, legal research,technology integration, document management systems, litigation support India + US (N Potomac, MD) + Netherlands (Amsterdam) Dec 05
(Apr 07)
CPA (Computer Patent Annuities) Patent and trademark support India + Global Intellevate was acquired by CPA in 2005 Mar 05
(Apr 07)
eCase Solutions Legal research, docketing, paralegal services, patent review, legal drafting, depo summaries,document review India + US (Ridgewood, NJ) May 05
(Apr 07)
Deloitte Document review, discovery management, litigation support India + US (Westfield, NJ) Nov 08
(Apr 07)
EconomicalServices.com Drafting, legal surveys-comparisons, legal research India Jun 06
(Apr 07)
Evalueserve IP research services India + Chile + Hong Kong Mar 05
(Apr 07)
Exactus Legal research, form drafting, document review, class action support, KM support India + US (DC) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Exigent Litigation support, document review, due diligence, contracts, contract management software, legal research, business research India + Australia (Perth) + S. Africa (Capetown) Mar 14
Fox Mandal Information Technologies Legal research, litigation support, due diligence, IP India Oct 06
(Apr 07)
Fusion LegalServices Legal research & writing, transcription, coding, document management, scoping, billing,secretarial and paralegal service, contract management, patents India Dec 06
(Apr 07)
Gausa Legal research India Dec 05
(Apr 07)
Global Secretary Secretarial Cape Town (S. Africa) + London Feb 08
(Feb 08)
GVK Bio Patent work India Dec 05
(Apr 07)
iBridge Document review, patents, contracts, legal research India + US (Portland, OR; LA, Dallas, Orlando) + Canada (Toronto) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
iDiligence Document and privilege review India + US (Chicago + Miami) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
IndiaLegal.net Legal research, IP support, legal research & writing India Oct 06
(Apr 07)
Infocache document review, legal research, patent and trademark India + US (NYC) Dec 06
(Apr 07)
Information & Analytics Patents India Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Infosys Contract drafting, due diligence, e-discovery, records management, litigation support, documentreview India + Global Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Innovar IP Consulting Group Patent/IP work India Jun 06
(Dec 06)
Inrea Patents India Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Integreon Litigation support, e-discovery, document review, legal research, word processing, trialgraphics India + US (NYC, LA) + UK (London) Acquired CBF Group, Feb 2007 May 05
(May 07)
Intelladigm Prep legal docs relating to employees India + US (Bingham Farms, MI) Aug 05
(May 07)
Intercom India Legal transcription, legal coding India + US (NYC) See globallawreview.comitem Mar 05
(May 07)
Intrust Global Document drafting, legal research, IP, patents, paralegal services India Jun 06
(May 07)
Inventurus Legal research, contract drafting + review, discovery management, patent filing, secretarial India + US (NYC, LA, Ft Smith – AK) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
iRunway Patents and IP India Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Ius Juris Legal research, document review, litigation support, contract drafting + management, IP India + US (Orlando) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
JuriScout Legal research + writing India + US (Indianapolis) Dec 06
(May 07)
Kaizen Process Outsourcing IP, contract summary + review, litigation support, legal research + writing India Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Kochar LexServe Contract drafting, due diligence, litigation support, document review, IP India + US (LA, Atlanta) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
kserve Legal research, drafting, IP, back office India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Lapiz Digital Services Legal research, EDD, document review India May 07
(May 07)
Lason Unspecified “legal” India + US (Troy, NY) + Canada (Toronto) + Mexico (Obregon) + China (Beijing) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
law KPO Drafting, legal research, IP India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
LawDocsXpress Legal secretarial services US (Atlanta) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
LawScribe document review, legal research, legal pleadings, and motion preparation, due diligence India + US (LA) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Lawwave.com Legal research, IP analytics, document review, back office, patent search, litigationsupportort India + US (NYC) See India Abroad article Jan04 Mar 05
(May 07)
Lawyers Back Office Patents, legal research, contract drafting and review, document review US (Carnegie, PA) Dec 06
(May 07)
Legal Advantage Patent & trial graphics, contract management & drafting, legal research & writing, IP,document review, immigration, EDD, SEC services Canada (Ottawa) + US (Bethesda, MD) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Legal Professionals India Legal research and drafting India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Legal Resources Contract review, drafting, management, and tracking; patent research and analysis; legal research;regulatory and compliance support Australia (Sydney) Works with Lexsphere (listed below) Oct 06
(May 07)
Legal Support Global Group Contract drafting, document review, e-discovery, legal research + writing, paralegal services India Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Legalbill Legal cost analysis, auditing, identification of areas of critical legal spend India + Germany (Frankfurt) + US (Brentwood, TN) In partnership with LegalEase (listed here); see LegalEase announcement Aug 07
(Aug 07)
LegalEase Legal research, doc drafting, patent, document review India + US (Detroit) Dec 05
(May 07)
LegalForce Patents, copyright, trademark India + US Primary business appears to be an online IP marketplace Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Legalwise Document review, legal research and drafting India + Canada (Toronto) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Legasis Contract drafting, due diligence, patent + IP, arbitration support, document management India Oct 06
(May 07)
LEX Outsourcing Legal research, contract drafting, litigation support, coding, depo summaries, maritime P&I,business & coporate law, IP, paralegal & secretarial, data entry, transcription, billing, OCR &scanning India Division of Hathi & Partners Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Lexadigm Solutions Legal research and writing, document review, IP, contract drafting & management India + US (Bingham Farms, Michigan) Mar 05
(May 07)
Lexecute Patent, trademarks, contracts, document review, legal research & drafting, due diligence,litigation support India + US (DC + San Jose, CA) + UK (London) Aug 05
(May 07)
LexHarbor Document review, due diligence India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Lexite Solutions Contract management, due diligence, IP, legal research India Apr 07
(Apr 07)
LexPlosion Legal research, lit support, IPR management, corporate filings, contract management & drafting,legislative monitoring, due diligence, compliance, transcription & secretarial support India Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Lexquisite Documentation, litigation support, acctg+billing, research, online due diligence India Aug 05
(Apr 07)
LexSphere Litigation support, document review, transaction support, IP, legal research, corporate secretarial,regulatory & compliance support India Oct 06
(May 07)
Lotus Legal Legal research, document review, IP, HR support India + US (NYC) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Lumen Legal Document review India + US (multiple cities) Partners with Quislex and Manthan (both listed separately) Oct 06
(May 07)
Manthan Services Legal research, drafting, contract management, IP, due diligence support, paralegal services, wordprocessing, billing support India Mar 05
(May 07)
MariaDaniel Legal secretarial services UK (London) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Maxim Liberty Paralegal support India + US (Vienna, VA) Dec 06
(May 07)
Mindcrest Document review, HR compliance, legal research & drafting India + US (Chicago) See globallawreview.comitem Mar 05
(May 07)
NewGalexy Contract management, license management, due diligence, documentation for media+IP+IT law,analytics, litigation support India + UK (London) See High-Level Legal Work Sent to Low-Paid Indian Lawyers re due diligence for 3 FTSE co’s Jun 06
(May 07)
Novus Law Contract management, document review, due diligence US (Chicago) + unspecified global locations Dec 06
(May 07)
Odin Legal Intelligence Document review Manila Oct 11
OfficeTiger Litigation support, document review, finance & accounting services, business information,analysis and research, word processing, EDGAR processing and creative design, recruitment, training India + Sri Lanka + Manila + US (NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Salt Lake City) + UK (London) +Germany (Frankfurt) Mar 05
(May 07)
Offshore Services to Lawyers Legal and business research, paralegal services, document review, patent support India + US (Conshohocken, PA) Aug 07
(Feb 08)
OSQS Paralegal taskings, lit coding, EDD India + US (Charleston, SC) Dec 05
(May 07)
Outside Counsel US-licensed attorneys with “BigLaw” experience Israel + US (NYC) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Oxirient Legal research, drafting, document review, word processing India + US (VT) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Pangea3 IP, contract drafting & management, document review, electronic data discovery & litigation,legal research, competitive intelligence India + US (NYC, San Jose, CA) See interview offounders May 05
(May 07)
Power Legal Document review and e-discovery services Israel + US (NYC) May 07 ad in Law Tech News indicates Israel based location Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Quantum Technologies Back office support for immigration practices India See case study in ImmigrationDaily >Dec 05
(May 07)
Quatrro Litigation support, legal research, legal drafting, patents India + Singapore + Malaysia + US (Tarpon Springs, FL) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
QuikSek Secretarial & word processing US (NYC) NYC location noted in brochure;no other location listed on web site Apr 07
(Apr 07)
QuisLex litigation support, document review, contract review and management, legal research, SEC docs India + US (NYC) Mar 05
(May 07)
Scope e-Knowledge Center IP India + US (NYC, Palo Alto) + Germany (Cologne) + Belgium (Wandre) Jun 06
(May 07)
SDD Global Legal research, drafting, document review, immigration, IP, litigation support, health insuranceclaims India Managed by US law firm Smith Dornan Dehn PC Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Socrates CMS Legal and business reference support, law library coverage, CLE materials, competitive analysis,paralegal, indexing and coding India Aug 05
(May 07)
SPi EDD, litigation coding, strategic advisory services, information structuring, formatting &production India, Philippines + US (Austin) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Talwar & Talwar Consultants Patent support; legal research & drafting; document review; contract review; legal coding andtranscription, case summaries India Dec 06
(May 07)
Technocrats Information Services Patent support; legal research & drafting; document review; contract review; legal coding andtranscription, case summaries India + US (NYC) + UK (London) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
The Legal Outsource IP, legal research, due diligence, contract drafting and review India + US (Irvine, CA) Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Thuriam Legal transcription, document management, deposition summaries, billing, coding, court reporting,paralegal & secretarial services, translation, data entry India Aug 05
(May 07)
TMP Searchers Patent search; paralegal support India See emediawire.comitem May 05
(May 07)
Tricom Document review, litigation support, e-discovery India + US (Fremont, CA) Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Trustman Legal Outsourcing Billing, secretarial and paralegal services, legal research, competitive intelligence, litigationsupport, contract drafting and management India Aug 07
(Aug 07)
Tusker Group Document review, e-discovery, coding India + US (Austin) See Tusker newsletter (Summer 06) for article on offshore document review Oct 06
(May 07)
Unilaw Class action services, IP, contract drafting + management, legal research, document review India + US (Atlanta) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
United Lex IP, contract management, litigation support India + US (Atlanta) Apr 07
(Apr 07)
Variante Global Legal research, drafting, IP support, immigration support, litigation support India + US (NYC) Dec 05
(May 07)
Verist Research IP research services India Aug 05
(May 07)
Williams Lea Document, litigation and IT support Global In agreement with Orrick; see W-L Press Release; acquires Centric LPO in Nov 2007, see press

release

Dec 05
(Feb 08)
WiseAssist Patent and IP India Dec 06
(May 07)
WNS Legal research, contract review, due diligence India, Sri Lanka Dec 06
(May 07)
World Outsourcing Resource Centre Legal research, litigation support, document review, contract review, compliance docs, patents, duediligence India See also nrigls.com, apparently a relatedcompany May 07
(May 07)

Corporations Offshoring Legal Work (Based on Published Articles)

Corporation Services Outsourced Location Source | Notes Date
Added
Accenture Law dept. support (contracts) Mauritius Corporate Legal Times, Sep 04, reports company has set up owned and operated office in Mauritius forcompany legal work. Mar 05
American Express Law dept. teams with Indian lawyers India asialaw magazine, Jul-Aug 05 ($) Dec 05
Andrew Corp Law dept. support (patents) NZ See Outsourcing ReachesCorporate Counsel, The Recorder, 8/25/04 Mar 05
Cadence Design Systems Offshore document review India See GCs Embrace OutsourcedWork, The Recorder, 1/25/08 Feb 08
Dell Procurement and sales contracts India See Bio of Stehpen Sopko atUnitedLex Apr 07
DuPont Offshore document review India See Let’s Offshore theLawyers, Business Week, 9/18/06 Feb 08
General Electric Law dept. support (contracts) India See Outsourcing ReachesCorporate Counsel, The Recorder, 8/25/04, but asialaw magazine Jul/Aug 05 issue reports “GE’s offshoringexperiment came to an end in 2003”. Mar 05
General Mills Patent work NZ + Australia See Corporate Legal Times article, July 2003 Mar 05
Jones Lang LaSalle Contract review and management India See In-house tips for drivingexternal lawyers, Lawyers Weekly, 1 Mar 07 Apr 07
Microsoft Patent work India See Briefed in Bangalore AmericanLawyer, Nov 04 Mar 05
Morgan Stanley Checking docs for compliance India asialaw magazine, Jul-Aug 05 ($) Dec 05
Motorola Patent work India See Motorola slasheslegal spend to tune of $200m TheLawyer.com, 31 Oct 05 Oct 06
Oracle Contract administration (non-lawyer work) Costa Rica and Romania See CONTRACT DRAFTING:SendingContracts OffshoreGC New York, 4/19/07 at law.com Apr 07
Sapient Contract administration India See “Standardize, automate and measure.” K&L Gates
website
Feb 08

Law Firms Offshoring Legal Work (Based on Published Sources)

Law Firm Services Outsourced Location Source | Notes Date
Added
Allen & Overy Document processing India See LegalWeek article May 05
Baker & McKenzie Network ops & doc processing Philippines See LegalWeek article Mar 05
Bickel & Brewer Litigation support India See Briefed in Bangalore AmericanLawyer, Nov 04 and I&A Int’l Mar 05
B J Macfarlane & Co Legal Research London + India Formerly known as lexwerx.com; legal research and support conducted in India Jun 06
Chadbourne Park Document processing India See “Take My Copy Room, Please”, Law Firm, Inc. (Jul/Aug 06) May 07
Clifford Chance Finance and IT India See CC to transfer 300 jobs to India in bidto save £30min LegalWeek 10/2/06. (Note: CC will own and operate the offshore site.) Oct 06
Howrey Document review India See Howrey Opens Office in India,Gives Clients Lower-Cost Optionin American Lawyer, Feb 2008 Feb 08
Lovells Document review India See Lovells Loves India,TheLawyer.com, 3 Dec 07 Feb 08
Milbank Tweed Document processing India See Law Firms Offered OutsourcedSupport Staffs(NY Law J, 6/7/04) May 07
Orrick Herrington Tech, finance, admin US (Wheeling, WV) See Orrick Global Operations Center Mar 05

Apparently No Longer Offering Legal Services or Not in Business or Acquired
(Based on

Visit to Original Web Address on Date “Dropped”)

Organization Services Originally Offered Location Source | Notes Date
Dropped
AVA Document drafting, legal research, back office support India + Dallas >June 2006: URL inactive; company no longer appears to offer legal services. Originally: Added Dec2005, http://www.avaconsulting.com/default.htm Jun 06
CBF Group Secretarial & admin support, word processing US (Fargo, ND + Westport, CT) Acquired by Integreon, Feb 2007 Aug 06
Centric LPO Not specified as of Apr 07 India + UK Acquired by Williams-Lea, Nov 2007 Feb 08
Docuserve Reception, telephone & fax services, mail-room, printing & reprographics & hospitalityfunctions, doc management Scotland June 2006: URL inactive; cannot locate company. Originally: added March 2005,http://www.docuserve.co.uk; see Scotsman article Jun 06
Intellevate IP services India Acquired by CPA, 2005 Feb 08
ITELS Legal research, patent support, document review, litigation support India + Chicago Oct 2006: URL inactive; cannot locate company. Originally added Jan 06. Oct 06
Legal Source India Transcription, coding, billing, secretarial, paralegal, document management, court reporting,translation, word processing, legal research & drafting India May 2007: URL inactive; originally added Aug 05 (http://www.legalsourceindia.com/) May 07
JuriMatrix Document review, due diligence, contract drafting and management, legal research, litigationsupport India Acquired by Clutch Group in 2007 Feb 08
(Feb 08)
Jurix Prudent Legal research India June 2006: URL requires password, locked up Firefox. Originally: http://www.jurixprudent.com/, addedDec 2005 Jun 06
NeoWorth litigation support, IP, contract review, legal research India + US April 08: URL inactive Feb 08
Prolfius Claims processing, paralegal, IP India Jan 2007: URL inactive Jan 07
Renaissance Legal & Learning Systems Discovery services, legal research, due diligence, doc prep, IP, e-learning development India + U.A.E. May 2007: web site no longer enumerates legal services (http://www.renaissancesystem.com/);originally added June 06 May 07