NEWS:
‘Outsource work or risk being cut out of the loop’ 12 June 2008 The Law Society Gazette
COMPETITION: lawyers cannot afford to ‘bury heads in sand’
Law firms should be looking to cut costs and outsource some legal work to compete effectively once alternative business structures (ABSs) come into being, Kerry Underwood, senior partner at Hertfordshire firm Underwoods, has warned.
Speaking at a legal process outsourcing (LPO) event hosted by the South African High Commission in London last week, Underwood said major companies were ‘no longer prepared to pay the rates even junior lawyers are charging in London, New York and Washington. Lawyers here will be cut out of the loop’.
He added: ‘Roughly, you can get work done in South Africa for half the price here … firms who bury their heads in the sand will go because the work will go.
‘The Legal Services Act passed last year introduces ABSs …. if you don’t think supermarkets, insurance companies and banks will practise law, I am sorry they will. If you think they would think twice about offshoring legal work, you are wrong’.
Underwood said high-volume, routine and non-contentious legal services would be most easily outsourced.
However, Seamus Smyth, partner at London firm Carter Lemon Camerons, told delegates that, while outsourcing purely mechanical processes would be relatively safe, outsourcing professional legal services to lawyers not qualified in English law would be problematic.
He said: ‘I am positive about LPO at a mechanical level but much less so at a professional level. I think it carries a high level of risk with it’.
Graham Chrystie, consultant at City firm Speechly Bircham, said: ‘I totally agree with the concept but …. you have to trust and know the chap who is providing the outsourcing service. Clients will want to know you had vetted them’.
Anita Rice
Legal process outsourcing comes to the fore as companies look to slash costs 29 May 2008 The Law Society Gazette
CREDIT CRUNCH: firms' ability to farm out straightforward tasks influences contract awards
Enquiries about legal process outsourcing have climbed sharply since the credit crunch took effect, a number of outsourcing companies have told the Gazette.
General counsel are also ramping up the pressure on law firms to outsource aspects of their legal services as legal spend is squeezed. In addition, firms striving to win places on corporate panels are bolstering deal pitches by proving they are using outsourcing as a means of reducing costs.
Mark Harding, general counsel at Barclays and former chairman of the GC100 – the association for the general counsel and company secretaries of FTSE 100 companies – said the issue of encouraging law firms to outsource simpler work was becoming increasingly important across the group.
Harding added that, following on from a successful commercial contracts outsourcing pilot in New Zealand, he intended to send more work there.
The news comes as the South African High Commission is set to host its first legal process outsourcing seminar in London, to be chaired by Kerry Underwood, senior partner at Hertfordshire firm Underwoods.
Underwood told the Gazette: ‘Every law firm should be looking at outsourcing. The assumption that London and the US have a monopoly on the best lawyers is wrong.’
He added that firms looking to take advantage of external investment under the Legal Services Act would need to outsource to show investors they had an attractive business model.
Andrew Loach, a vice-president of business development for legal outsourcing company CPA’s European Legal Services Unit, noted that one ‘very large’ UK law firm pitching for corporate panel work was taking a ‘blended’ approach by outsourcing simple legal tasks, such as contract review, to paralegals in India. The most important tasks would still be undertaken by the firm’s own lawyers.
He said: ‘Law firms recognise times are getting tougher and clients are demanding more creativity when it comes to billing.’
Kesh Sharma, a director of legal services outsourcing company Magellan Consultancy Services, said his company had recently benchmarked the fees charged to a ‘large international firm’ by its current panel firms and its potential new panel – with the result that all the firms were asked to look at outsourcing as a means of cutting costs.
He also noted high-street firms had recently started to look at outsourcing bulk commodity processes such as conveyancing.
Ian Prince, chief executive of outsourcing consultancy Prince OMC, and Robert Glennie, chief executive of legal services provider NewGalexy, said their companies had experienced a greater number of outsourcing enquiries of late from both law firms and general counsel.
James Dean
Lucy Mervik Perfomances
Lucy Mervik is a talented young opera singer sponsored by Underwoods Solicitors.
More about Lucy
 Goethe’s Singspiel Erwin und Elmire
Liebhabertheater Schloss Kochberg, May 31, 2008
Festsaal des Weimarer Schlosses, June 1, 2008
in cooperation with Guildhall Schooll of Music and Drama and Freundeskreis der Klassik Stiftung Weimar
See our events page for where Lucy is performing.
Tanzanite and Diamonds June 2008
Underwoods Solicitors has teamed up with a jewellery designer and maker specializing in tanzanite and diamond products as well as other jewellery.
He will be visiting in June 2008. Please contact Kerry Underwood for more information.
South Africa legal process outsourcing seminar 5th June 2008
Kerry Underwood is chairing a seminar programme for the South African High Commission on legal process outsourcing to South Africa.
Attendance is by invitation only and if you want more information please contact Kerry at kerry@kerryunderwood.co.uk.
The seminar carries 3 continuing professional development hours and is free.
Click here to download a PDF for event details.
WILLS 12 May 2008
Recent research has shown that 92% of the public thought that will-writers had to be trained and/or regulated.
78% thought it wrong that anyone at all can sell will-writing services.
The government has refused to regulate will-writers.
£4.99 Wills in shops now 12 March 2008
A £4.99 DIY Will making kit went on sale in 7,000 newsagents this week.
Rumours that the same stores will be selling DIY open-heart surgery kits for £9.99 remain unconfirmed.
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