Some go overseas for cheaper labor; others take pride in staying
October 29, 2007
By taking care of the grunt work that many attorneys dread, legal services company Mindcrest has become the best friend of U.S. litigators.
The Chicago-based firm employs nearly 400 lawyers, up from 40 a year ago. And it is hiring as fast as it can. The catch: It wants lawyers in Mumbai and Pune, India, willing to work for a fraction of their U.S. counterparts' paychecks.
Mindcrest has embraced offshoring from the get-go. Without it, the company wouldn't exist, said George Hefferan, the company's vice president and general counsel.
A growing number of small businesses are moving to offshore outsourcing to cut costs, experts say. And the concept has moved beyond information technology services and manufacturing to include different kinds of business services and even product development, said Cheryl Nakata, associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Business Administration.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon_offshore_sb_1029oct29,0,1427113.story