I am writing a round-up post to highlight recent news, a recent article I wrote about LPO, and four video interviews I conducted. 

The State of Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO). I wrote an article on the state of LPO, Client market power means continuing cost-cutting, arguing that while LPO is growing, so too are many other alternatives to large law firms. It appeared in a legal efficiency supplement to the The Times of London on 11 June 2013.

Another Low Cost Service Center. Ashurst, the now global UK law firm, announced that it will open a low-cost service center in Glasgow, Scotland with 150 positions to start, 30 of which are fee earners. (Ashurst press release.) It will be the second UK firm to have a Glasgow center. By my count, over two dozen large US and UK firms now have low cost service centers.

Taxonomy of Law Firm Strategies. Bruce MacEwen, aka Adam Smith, Esq., is publishing a great series of posts on “a law firm taxonomy”, in which he categorizes large firms based on their business model. In each post, he discusses the model and its merits. See http://www.adamsmithesq.com/

Can We Do Less Law? Clients seek more value from law departments and law firms. To date, they have focused on shifting the balance between outsourcing and insourcing and, for outsourcing (aka law firms), changing compensation arrangements. I keep waiting for general counsels to talk more about ways “to do less law”. A couple of weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published How America Lost Its Way, a commentary that argues too much law stifles the US economy. More recently, the WSJ published Your New Secretary: An Algorithm, which, contrary to its title, is really about using advanced data collection and algorithms to help workers do a better job. Consider how such data, properly analyzed, might help companies detect illegal activities before it goes very far.

Video Interviews. At Legal Tech NY last January, I conducted several video interviews. Two I did on behalf of Project Counsel Media on e-discovery and two I did on my own about the current and future state of the legal market….

Lifting the Lid on New-Model Law Firm with Andy Daws of Riverview Law. Riverview Law is a new model law firm in the UK; Andy is the representative in N. America,

The Dealmaker’s Perspective on the Legal Market with Nick Baughan of Marks Baughan, an investment bank with deep legal technology expertise.

Putting the e-discovery ecosystem in perspective: an interview with David Horrigan of 451 Research. David is a lawyer-turned-analyst with the 451 Research.

Johannes Scholtes and ZyLAB talk about key e-discovery market and technology trends in Part 1 and Part 2.