TIME: Call my lawyer... in India

[antigop]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1727726,00.html

Mark Alexander, a Dallas attorney, says he's ethically obligated to do what's best for his clients, "and that includes saving them money." So when one of them asks him to research a securities-fraud topic, for example, or breach of contract, he doesn't even think about applying his $395 hourly rate. Instead, he calls Atlas Legal Research, an outsourcing company based in Irving, Texas, that uses lawyers in India to provide the service for $60 per hr. "When a client pays me a $25,000 retainer and I can save them money, I will do so," says Alexander. Handing off the work to a $225-per-hr. junior associate is not an option. "They don't even know where to stand in the courtroom," he says.

While the Americans learn, well-trained lawyers in secure offices in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Bangalore and Gurgaon (outside Delhi), who typically earn $6,000 to $30,000 annually, do legal grunt work. Alexander's sentiments may explain why outsourcing is blossoming in the legal profession, which is known--and often despised--for its high prices. Law-firm partners bill at a national average of $318 per hr. and at $550 per hr. at large New York City firms, according to a 2007 survey by Altman Weil, a legal-consulting company. Starting salaries for attorneys at some large firms now stand at $160,000. So a U.S. company's simple problem can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.

The considerable savings is perhaps one reason Forrester Research, based in Cambridge, Mass., has projected the offshoring of 29,000 legal jobs by the end of the year and as many as 79,000 by 2015. It's part of India's inevitable move up the corporate food chain, from lower-value business process outsourcing--like call centers--to knowledge process outsourcing (KPO). The latter category encompasses higher-skilled jobs, such as engineering and medicine, and relies on the KPOs to behave more like branch offices of U.S. companies.

[OhioChick]

1. Better Secure That Job at McDonalds.

It'll be all that is left.

[TiredTexan]

2. I hope he has really good legal

malpractice insurance. Aside from being really stupid to outsource legal research to anyone not working in the system due to intracies of research and points of law, outsourcing to a non-lawyer could result in impermissible sharing of fees, violating most state's rules of ethics. It could also breach attorney/client privilege, thus waiving the privilege. If I were his opponent in any litigation, I'd demand all correspondence with the company, payment records, etc., and see if the privilege was breached.

If I were his insurance carrier, I'd non-renew him for this stupidity.

[aquart]

3. Sounds like fun.

Can't wait till it shows up on Boston Legal and Law and Order.

[JDPriestly]

4. As one who has done lots of legal research for lots of motions for lots of cases

This is not going to work. For one thing, lawyers are bound by duties of confidentiality and loyalty to their clients. How in the world would a client prove a breach of a duty of confidentiality or loyalty by some low-paid, nearly anonymous clerical worker in India or Pakistan? How could the client enforce his, her or its rights to loyalty and confidentiality.

Let's say that a party to a lawsuit hires an agent to find out what firm in India an opposing party is using to perform legal research and write legal opinions/ And further, lets say the agent is authorized to pay a researcher earning $15 per hour several thousand dollars to allow the agent to see the opposing party's privileged documents such as, for example, the legal opinion and research itself or correspondence regarding the legal research, even simply the parameters of the assignment. If you haven't done this kind of work, you may think, "No problem." But, trust me, I've done a lot of this kind of research. Information of this kind is confidential for a very good reason.

When you think of corporate clients who have huge amounts of money on the line, it is altogether possible that a corporation might have agents in India ready and willing to obtain information of this kind as a routine and simple matter. Sure, it's illegal, and a party to a lawsuit would be taking a huge risk to do this sort of thing, but what harm do you really think would befall the corporation?

A client who would agree to the outsourcing of legal work is naive. I would wager that a person who has outsourced work of this kind has not lived abroad for long. Bribery and cheating are not as strongly condemned in some cultures as they are in the U.S. I don't know that much about Indian business and legal ethics, but I have heard stories that cause me concern. Outsourcing legal work is not a good idea.

[OhioChick]

5. You make a good point....

Quote: "This is not going to work. For one thing, lawyers are bound by duties of confidentiality and loyalty to their clients. How in the world would a client prove a breach of a duty of confidentiality or loyalty by some low-paid, nearly anonymous clerical worker in India or Pakistan? How could the client enforce his, her or its rights to loyalty and confidentiality."


However what comes to mind is credit card companies. Your credit card #'s, SS # as well as other vital important information is confidential.......but is it really? All of your information is in India, Pakistan and all over the globe. As you stated above, "information of this kind is confidential for a very good reason."

[JDPriestly]

6. I am just as concerned about my credit card info.

And what is more, I do not like the idea that underpaid, low-level IT personnel in India, Pakistan and the Philippines know the password to my computer.

[OhioChick]

7. Oh....I wasn't disagreeing with you...

I just can't fathom how people cannot be up in arms over having such sensitive information of theirs sent all over the globe.

[antigop]

8. How about banking?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969422.htm

In the end, Wachovia decided to partner with Genpact, Infosys Technologies (INFY ), and Cognizant Technology Solutions to perform different tasks, including computer programming.

[OhioChick]

9. Another security issue...

not to mention all this medical tourism being talked about. (HIPPA)

[antigop]

10. Exactly ! n/t