Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is the industry in which in-house legal departments or
organizations outsource legal work from areas where it is costly to perform,
such as the United States or Europe to areas
where it can be performed at a significantly decreased cost, primarily India.
Legal Process Outsourcing is a high end industry that has been growing rapidly
in the recent years.
The term, “LPO,” for “legal process outsourcing”
is apparently a media invention. It derives from BPO, or business process outsourcing.
But to the extent that the word, "process," suggests standardized,
commoditized, easy-to-replicate tasks that can be performed without a lot of
education, much less professional training, it is a misnomer for the legal
services off-shoring industry. Typing a medical transcription, or answering
calls based on a script, is a "process." On the other hand, legal
research, legal analysis, or drafting complaints, contracts, patent
applications, or legal briefs, is not a BPO-like, commoditized "process."
Those are legal services, even if they do not amount to "practicing
law," which can only be done by the supervising, licensed attorney (often
in-house corporate counsel) who reviews the services that so-called LPO
companies provide.
Most firms and corporations outsource primarily
for cost saving measures and this is considered the biggest advantage for legal
process outsourcing. While an attorney in major legal markets such as the US
charge at minimum 250 dollars for work, countries that are offering legal
process outsourcing charge just a fraction. Some countries, especially in the
Indian sub-continent have gained prominence due to the fact that some of their
attorneys with higher degrees work at meager salary. This has attracted major
corporations to outsource some of the minor and less sensitive work in their
legal departments. Another comparable advantage is the turnaround time since
most countries that offer legal process outsourcing are either on the other
side of the Atlantic and generally with customers from the US.
But it isn’t just cost savings that make the LPO
an attractive business prospect for U.S. companies and forward-looking law
firms. As is the case with the BPO and the KPO, LPO users can avail of a range
of benefits, not least saving time on getting important work done. LPO users
can gain more operational efficiencies by focusing on core business activities
while having access to a breadth of skills, technology and service offerings,
at a reduced cost
Elevated’s LPO Advisory and Management services include:
·
LPO Usage and Roadmap Development
·
LPO Model Cost Benefit Analysis
·
LPO Management and Operations
·
LPO On boarding and Change Management
·
LPO Services
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