Allen & Overy (A&O) becomes the first magic circle firm to benefit from the advantages of legal outsourcing. This step has been taken in an attempt to reduce their overheads and bring in cost effectivity. The firm has signed the deal with Integreon on a case-by-case basis. They would be outsourcing basic litigation document review work to India thus saving cost by 30-50 per cent.
With law firms getting into the outsourcing industry, it seems that initial apprehension regarding outsourcing has mitigated. Clifford Chance and Linklaters have both outsourced support functions. Many law firms after gauging the experience of law departments and pressure from clients have started exploring the option. The LPO service providers have with their breadth and depth of coverage; domain expertise; location advantage; data compliance with respect to regulatory standards; and management of business risks been able to change the skeptic mindset with respect to outsourcing legal services.
