With all the legal process outsourcing (LPO) news last week, law firms should consider their LPO strategy, including if they need to have one.
My post last week, LPO Update: Microsoft, Rio Tinto, New LPO Ethics Article, Deals, reviewed recent LPO developments: Microsoft announced legal outsourcing, Leah Cooper of Rio Tinto moved to CPA Global, a new ethics articles was published, and two LPOs announced big deals.
With all the news about LPO, do US and UK law firms need a strategy or position on legal outsourcing? That’s the question I address in my 20 Feb 2010 article, Law Firms Now Outsourcers?, at LLRX.com. I examine a recent outsourcing announcement by Eversheds and a recent LPO article by Mayer Brown lawyers.
I conclude that “clients want lower legal costs and it’s clear that shifting work location and improving processes achieve that result…. Clients should be happy that they have a choice of providers.” In my view, that means firms should at least be receptive to working with legal outsourcers. I think US and UK firms are still working on their LPO strategies – or at least clients should hope so.