A Blog About Law Firms And Their Clients

Much is, and has been, said about the outsourcing of legal work product, law firm infrastructure, etc.  In a former post, I commented on Seyfarth Shaw’s Lean Six Sigma, which is really (in some respects) a good response to outsourcing — become more efficient and effective, change practices long-term.  Another method I learned of, after sitting down with a CKO at an AMLAW 20 firm was “insourcing,” higher lawyers that perform the more standardized legal work (1st yr – 3rd year associate type of work) in more affordable markets, secondary employment markets, thus, work gets done at more appropriate rates.  To me, this was another indication of how much more savvy law firms are becoming with respect to the ever changing climate.  Here’s a quote from the law21.ca blog that I thought did a nice job of summing up the point:

“If I were an LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing), I’d be nervous every time I read about a law firm that provided secondments, gave legal project management training, managed its workflow, unbundled its services, used decision trees, or even employed Lean Six Sigma, because it means they’re starting to adopt some of my stock in trade. The critical battleground in the legal services marketplace is not price, but innovation: inventing and implementing more efficient and effective ways to carry out legal work. That’s a tougher and far more important assignment than simply lowering the cost of associate work, and whoever figures it out first and best could, like Toyota and Sony, dominate this market. LPOs are in a strong position to compete in this race, but they’re not the only contestants.”  The full-text of this entry can be found at:

http://www.law21.ca/2010/06/08/the-evolution-of-outsourcing/