The key legal issue while considering off shoring Legal Process Outsourcing to India would be, whether the work performed by the Legal Process Outsourcing Companies (LPO) or Knowledge Process Outsourcing Companies (KPOs) constitutes an unauthorized practice of law? The simple answer is that, works performed by the LPO / KPO would not constitute an unauthorized practice of law if the work is performed under supervision of a licensed attorney.
For understanding further we can take a scenario wherein a U.S Law firm sends legal works to an Indian LPO, after getting approval from the client. The LPO in India under the supervision of the U.S Law Firm conducts research and drafts the assignment using Lexis and Westlaw databases for the Law Firm after analyzing the issues framed by the U.S Law Firm for the Client. The Licensed Attorneys in the U.S Law Firm carefully reviews and edits the assignment and then signs the material and then sends it to the client.
In this scenario there is no violation of any of the state statutes or regulations and is in compliance with America Bar Association’s rulings on ethics. Thus the unauthorized practice of law by a LPO appears to be the amount of supervision over the non-licensed lawyer / non-lawyers.
It is clear from the above that when work is done directly for a client by an LPO without having license to practice or licensed attorneys to practice respective state law, then such practice would amount to unauthorized practice of law.
If the Law Firm has direct supervisory authority over the non licensed / non lawyer LPO and takes responsibility for the conduct of the LPO in compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, such practice would not be falling under unauthorized practice of law.
More importantly in the above given scenario the U.S Law Firm in turn exercises independent judgment in deciding how and whether to use the opinion on the client’s behalf. Thus the work performed by the LPO would not amount to unauthorized practice of law.
Conclusion:
The key issue on the unauthorized practice of law by a LPO appears to be the amount of supervision over the non-lawyer. The law on legal outsourcing is still evolving and the Bar committees of New York City (NYCBA Formal Op. 2006-3), San Diego County (SDCBA Formal Legal Ethics Op. 2007-1) and Los Angeles County ( LACBA Ethics Op. 518) have ruled that lawyers may contract with foreign lawyers not admitted to practice in any jurisdiction in the United States, or with nonlawyers outside the United States, to perform legal work for U.S. clients. These authorities hold that foreign legal outsourcing does not constitute aiding the unauthorized practice of law. “Outsourcing overseas has begun to command attention in the legal profession, as corporate legal departments and law firms endeavor to reduce costs and manage operations more efficiently.” NYCBA Formal Op. 2006-3. Underlining the fact that legal process outsourcing would not amount to unauthorized practice of law when supervisory and decision-making functions are done by licensed attorneys.
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Saturday, September 15, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Legal Outsourcing In India
Introduction.
MNCs (in-house legal departments), international law firms, legal publishing companies and legal research firms are now outsourcing legal services to India.
Legal outsourcing can be categorized into low-value and high-value services. The low value services include processes like legal transcription, document conversion, legal data entry, legal coding, indexing, paralegal services, etc. which can be categorized as paralegal support. These jobs are typically quite process-oriented, requiring less complex capabilities, and are hence billed at lower rates.
In contrast, the higher-end jobs like legal research, litigation support and patent related work require much higher skill levels and knowledge, and hence command a higher billing rate.
Billing rates.
Legal Counsel: - $30 – 125/ph.
Outsourced legal counsel services for an in-house firm (with or without a legal
department) or a legal firm, encompass most of the areas: Antitrust, bankruptcy, construction, corporate, criminal, civil rights, employment and employee benefits, energy, entertainment, family, government, healthcare, immigration, insurance, intellectual property, Internet/E-commerce, litigation, real estate, tax, telecommunications, trusts and estates and other areas.
Legal advice and counsel is provided through telephones, emails or online methods and includes drafting of opinions, briefs, complaints, responses and other court documents following the relevant statutes and local rules of the respective jurisdictions.
Legal Research -$35-50/ph.
Lawyers sift through large quantities of data using electronic databases (Westlaw and Lexis Nexis and the Internet, to provide focused research to law firms and attorneys. Legal research is conducted for all sorts of US laws, including case and statutory law.
Legal Research Online database searches, 50 state surveys, Drafting contracts, Contract management.
Paralegal Support $8-20/ph.
Legal Transcription, Coding, Indexing, Document review, Drafting and revising contracts/agreements:
Various types of contracts and agreements such as employee contracts, non-disclosure agreements, licensing and supplier agreements, etc are initially drafted by trained Indian lawyers and sent for review to US attorneys. Once reviewed, these may be sent back for further revisions and finalization. Proofreading may also be provided.
Intellectual Property work -$25-80/ph.
Patent Services: These include patent research and analysis, helping file patent applications, infringement studies, and patent / trademark ‘prior art’ searches.
Patent research and analysis: Landscape studies, patent appraisals and valuation studies, infringement analysis and prior art searching.
Patent application drafting: The various stages of filing a patent application (prior art searches, patentability assessment, patent landscaping, drafting specifications, drawings, etc).
Patent prosecution: Indian companies are helping US attorneys in the patent prosecution process, from providing a technical assessment of the prior art cited by a patent examiner to drafting responses to the examiner’s objections.Prior art search.
Research tools available.
Westlaw and Lexis Nexis are the most popular online research tools.
Infrastructure – Space to work.
Most of the outsourcing companies in India work 24 hours in two shifts. The paralegal works detailed above are mostly done in the night shifts.
The most important factor while looking into the infrastructure aspect is regarding the Internet connectivity. The broadband enabled satellite Internet connection is preferred for unobstructed net connectivity.
The employees strength varies with the type and number of project handled. When high-end work requires less number of employees the low end requires more.
The salary for an Indian Attorney who has the skill to handle high-end work would be Rs. 35,000 to 55,000 p/month.
For low-end paralegal work it would be Rs.15, 000 – 30,000/-
For coding assignments specific software would be purchased by the outsourcing company abroad wherein all the documents to be coded would be scanned and loaded and the employees will be trained to use this software following the protocols provided by the client.
Training the team
The employees are given test projects on specific issues and are given passwords of databases (westlaw or lexis) for research. Some of the law schools in India give training to follow the ‘blue book’ and the IRAC (Issue, Rules Analysis and Conclusion) system of drafting. If the analysis is good the employee can be taken in and then given the drafting and research training.
Initially a core team has to be trained by a trainer / attorney from the country of outsourcing. The core team should be efficient enough to train the other team members’ later on.
Organization structure.
Most of the companies are Private Limited Companies. However if the employee strength is less than 21 the company could maintain their staff as consultants to avoid various compliances, book keeping procedures and contribution of P.F, Insurance etc., for the employees.
The problems that you probably face:
Searching and analyzing the candidates with ability to shift from Indian legal system to a foreign legal system requires tremendous patience and hard work. The company needs an efficient H.R team for this.
Training is equally tough. The core team should be efficient to handle it.
Companies also have to consider additional expenses for maintaining people on bench to coup up with urgent requirement of human resources.
Internet connectivity and office space also have to be looked into with much care hence the company need an IT team who will take care of the smooth functioning of the computers and internet.
Companies provide pick and drop facility for the employees specifically for employees working at night shifts.
No issues have yet risen regarding the confidentiality of work.
-------------
MNCs (in-house legal departments), international law firms, legal publishing companies and legal research firms are now outsourcing legal services to India.
Legal outsourcing can be categorized into low-value and high-value services. The low value services include processes like legal transcription, document conversion, legal data entry, legal coding, indexing, paralegal services, etc. which can be categorized as paralegal support. These jobs are typically quite process-oriented, requiring less complex capabilities, and are hence billed at lower rates.
In contrast, the higher-end jobs like legal research, litigation support and patent related work require much higher skill levels and knowledge, and hence command a higher billing rate.
Billing rates.
Legal Counsel: - $30 – 125/ph.
Outsourced legal counsel services for an in-house firm (with or without a legal
department) or a legal firm, encompass most of the areas: Antitrust, bankruptcy, construction, corporate, criminal, civil rights, employment and employee benefits, energy, entertainment, family, government, healthcare, immigration, insurance, intellectual property, Internet/E-commerce, litigation, real estate, tax, telecommunications, trusts and estates and other areas.
Legal advice and counsel is provided through telephones, emails or online methods and includes drafting of opinions, briefs, complaints, responses and other court documents following the relevant statutes and local rules of the respective jurisdictions.
Legal Research -$35-50/ph.
Lawyers sift through large quantities of data using electronic databases (Westlaw and Lexis Nexis and the Internet, to provide focused research to law firms and attorneys. Legal research is conducted for all sorts of US laws, including case and statutory law.
Legal Research Online database searches, 50 state surveys, Drafting contracts, Contract management.
Paralegal Support $8-20/ph.
Legal Transcription, Coding, Indexing, Document review, Drafting and revising contracts/agreements:
Various types of contracts and agreements such as employee contracts, non-disclosure agreements, licensing and supplier agreements, etc are initially drafted by trained Indian lawyers and sent for review to US attorneys. Once reviewed, these may be sent back for further revisions and finalization. Proofreading may also be provided.
Intellectual Property work -$25-80/ph.
Patent Services: These include patent research and analysis, helping file patent applications, infringement studies, and patent / trademark ‘prior art’ searches.
Patent research and analysis: Landscape studies, patent appraisals and valuation studies, infringement analysis and prior art searching.
Patent application drafting: The various stages of filing a patent application (prior art searches, patentability assessment, patent landscaping, drafting specifications, drawings, etc).
Patent prosecution: Indian companies are helping US attorneys in the patent prosecution process, from providing a technical assessment of the prior art cited by a patent examiner to drafting responses to the examiner’s objections.Prior art search.
Research tools available.
Westlaw and Lexis Nexis are the most popular online research tools.
Infrastructure – Space to work.
Most of the outsourcing companies in India work 24 hours in two shifts. The paralegal works detailed above are mostly done in the night shifts.
The most important factor while looking into the infrastructure aspect is regarding the Internet connectivity. The broadband enabled satellite Internet connection is preferred for unobstructed net connectivity.
The employees strength varies with the type and number of project handled. When high-end work requires less number of employees the low end requires more.
The salary for an Indian Attorney who has the skill to handle high-end work would be Rs. 35,000 to 55,000 p/month.
For low-end paralegal work it would be Rs.15, 000 – 30,000/-
For coding assignments specific software would be purchased by the outsourcing company abroad wherein all the documents to be coded would be scanned and loaded and the employees will be trained to use this software following the protocols provided by the client.
Training the team
The employees are given test projects on specific issues and are given passwords of databases (westlaw or lexis) for research. Some of the law schools in India give training to follow the ‘blue book’ and the IRAC (Issue, Rules Analysis and Conclusion) system of drafting. If the analysis is good the employee can be taken in and then given the drafting and research training.
Initially a core team has to be trained by a trainer / attorney from the country of outsourcing. The core team should be efficient enough to train the other team members’ later on.
Organization structure.
Most of the companies are Private Limited Companies. However if the employee strength is less than 21 the company could maintain their staff as consultants to avoid various compliances, book keeping procedures and contribution of P.F, Insurance etc., for the employees.
The problems that you probably face:
Searching and analyzing the candidates with ability to shift from Indian legal system to a foreign legal system requires tremendous patience and hard work. The company needs an efficient H.R team for this.
Training is equally tough. The core team should be efficient to handle it.
Companies also have to consider additional expenses for maintaining people on bench to coup up with urgent requirement of human resources.
Internet connectivity and office space also have to be looked into with much care hence the company need an IT team who will take care of the smooth functioning of the computers and internet.
Companies provide pick and drop facility for the employees specifically for employees working at night shifts.
No issues have yet risen regarding the confidentiality of work.
-------------
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