What Is Legal Process Outsourcing?

Legal process outsourcing, or LPO, is the biggest thing to hit the legal market since the Magna Carta, in my opinion. Without LPO, my practice would be limited by the number of highly-skilled people I could employ at overpriced New York City rates.

And let’s be honest, folks – it’s tough to find qualified employees at a reasonable rate anywhere in the United States.

LPO solves that problem handily.

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is the industry that has sprung up to perform work for lawyers from areas where it is costly to perform to areas where it can be performed at a significantly decreased cost, primarily India.

We’re not taking about some low-end data entry, either. LPO can handle a variety of tasks for the busy lawyer, such as:

Legal Research
Document Drafting like standard contracts, agreements, letters to the clients, patent applications etc.
Legal Billing activities like preparation of invoices, collation of time sheets etc.
Paralegal Services
Administrative and secretarial activities

The work is done by experienced paralegals and attorneys; in fact, many of the lawyers are educated right here in the United States. On graduation, they can either work for a mega-firm in the U.S. – far from home and their families – or go back to India to work in an LPO firm.

Why not stay here and make the big bucks?

Consider this. If an Indian lawyer goes back home to work in an LPO, they may make $20,000 per year. Sounds appalling, right? Wrong! In India, that may buy the lawyer a huge home, brand-new car, house staff, and a quality of life that far exceeds that of his or her peers. Plus, they get to do exciting work and live in a familiar place.

Any solo or small firm lawyer in the U.S. can relate to the logic of this choice.

But I’m not talking about India to the exclusion of other places. And I’m not talking about petition preparation only. Everything, from top to bottom in your organization, can be up for grabs. If the work can get done by someone residing half a world away or half an hour away at a lower price without sacrificing quality, that should be an option for you to explore.

I’ll be chatting with you about LPO in the coming days and weeks, giving a clearer picture of what can be done and how to get it done. So keep reading this blog, and post your comments and questions here.