According to a NASSCOM market intelligence report, the value of the global legal process outsourcing (LPO) segment is expected to reach $15 billion by 2015. LPO is growing, a clear indication of its positive impact on law firms. Going beyond cost, it is helping legal departments and law firms manage complex information, maintain compliance, and improve processes to generate more value.
LPO has reshaped the legal profession and caused a paradigm shift in the delivery of legal services. The report, ‘SPS Outsourcing Index: Law Firm Trends’ released by ‘Swiss Post Solutions (SPS)’, provides a view of the latest outsourcing activities and related trends in the legal industry. The main highlights of the study as given in a recent report are:
-
- Nearly 89 percent of the largest firms and six out of ten of the midsize firms are outsourcing office support tasks
- Commonly outsourced services in the legal industry are mailroom, messenger, centralized document production, and conference room management
- One-third of the firms have plans to outsource additional functions within the coming two years
- Legal firms are looking for innovative ways to drive productivity and reduce costs
- Legal professionals have identified outsourcing as one of the major strategies to improve the effectiveness of legal processes.
The study also throws light on the impact of LPO:
-
- 90% of the firms are benefiting from improved service levels
- 89% have access to continuous improvement and process innovation
- 85% enjoy significant cost savings, as the operating costs are greatly reduced
- 77% gained access to skilled talent
- 63% gained competitive advantage
- 54% said LPO helped consolidate multiple contracts within a single provider
- Another strategy that has helped is transformation to digitization. About 54 percent of firms said they hoped to implement digital strategies and automation solutions in the near future
- The research also revealed that over 75 percent of law firms are of the opinion that expertise in the legal industry is the top selection factor when choosing an outsourcing provider. The provider’s reputation comes second.
According to another report, an American Lawyer Media Survey revealed that the LPO industry is expected to expand and improve services in the next five years. Its main findings are as follows:
- LPO companies and law firms need to work together on compliance and risk matters
- LPO providers are better equipped than law firms in matters of technology
- U.S. based law firms are using LPO services in matters such as document review
Both the surveys reveal the growing importance of legal process outsourcing in U.S and on global basis. Technologies such as predictive coding and e-discovery are also helping to make legal research and legal decision making processes faster and easier.
