Legal outsourcing set to boom (India)

[OhioChick]

December 29, 2008 08:50 IST

An Indian legal professional who takes home Rs 25,000 a month earns a tiny fraction of the Rs 10,000 an hour that his counterpart in the US earns.

But with Indian legal process outsourcing industry poised to increase it's hiring, amidst a whirlpool of cost cutting measures being embraced aggressively by the US and the European firms, things could change. Mathematically, this translates into 20 per cent rise in salary packages of LPO employees and bonuses of up to 25 per cent to experienced lawyers employed by various outsourcing outfits.

Bhaskar Bagchi, country head, CPA, leading provider of outsourced legal support services and intellectual property management specialist, claims that CPA would double its headcount from the existing 500 employees, in the next 6 months.

"We are targeting a headcount of 2,000 employees by 2010," he said. Industry sources assert that the average salary benchmark would follow the increase in outsourced legal project revenues, which is rising at an average 30-45 per cent.

Numerous foreclosure-related assignments from US banks and law firms have been keeping Indian LPOs occupied, besides the usual assignments like indexing and coding to database maintenance, patent support, contract review and management, litigation support and legal compliance.

More: http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/29bpo-legal-outsourcing-set-to-boom.htm

[DJ13]

1. Oh good, just what I want, a TV screen representing me in court

[thunder rising]

6. They have no intention of representing you ... you will be defending yourself from a monitor.

[Skittles]

2. if they fuck up the way they do in IT

they'll keep the obligatory skeleton crew here to clean up

[Azlady]

8. Oh you know they'll fuck it up, just like they do in IT, yep, it will be a mess!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. I heard the exact opposite several years ago.

"Legal services are one thing in the U.S. that they can't outsource to India".

Yeah, SUUURE.......

For this I got a *&^#$@)(* LAW DEGREE!!! GAAAAHHHHH!!!


:wtf:

[OhioChick]

4. Don't feel bad....I'm in IT

Soon, all of our degrees with mean jack shit.

[Deja Q]

5. I recall zdnet and other news sites trickling reports of offshoring legal services

None of this is a surprise.

If it comes to fruition.

Want tort reform? Start by not giving torts to incapable fruitcakes, or even the playing field if this flat-earther stuff is for real. (Columbus would be flattened in his grave. Certainly wouldn't be spinning...)

[spindrifter]

7. How do they manage to get around

state bar licensing requirements?

[Jackpine Radical]

9. I imagine they get US frontpersons to sign off on the documents

while the real legal research is done by Indians, who are probably searching US databases online.

[Berry Cool]

10. Pretty much the size of it, I believe

Lesson to be learned from all this: Don't allow one of your kids to spend lots of money on law school, reasoning that he/she will make it all back with those huge earnings from being a lawyer. Whatever your kid is learning to do as a beginning lawyer, Indians will do for much less.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Name one single profession that can't be outsourced.

Physician? With the exception of those who do invasive procedures (heart surgery, etc.), don't bet on it. Lesser-skilled people can collect all the data via standardized procedures for analysis elsewhere. Prescriptions can be made and modified based on the data.

Psychological testing? Easily computerized. Clinical assessments? Do them over closed-circuit video. Talk therapy--ditto.

Architecture, engineering, teaching, damn near everything. Except maybe dentistry.