Legal Outsourcing: The Law Firm Perspective

Introduction

Law firms are having to deal with dramatic growth in legal process outsourcing (LPO) and the relentless spread towards higher-value legal processes. At the same time, they are facing a growing trend among their major clients of consolidating multiple existing law firm relationships into a few wider, longer-term legal service outsourcing (LSO) arrangements with far more demanding commercial models.

Scope

• Analysis and insight into the developing role of law firms in the evolving Legal Process Outsourcing and wider Legal Services Outsourcing markets.
• Based on structured interviews with senior partners across the top 30 major law firms at the heart of the legal outsourcing market.

Highlights

Includes the capture of confidential quantitative information on the extent of current outsourcing, how this is expected to change over the next two years, and predictions for the ultimate market penetration for LPO and LSO.

Reasons to Purchase

• Analyses the changing competitive positioning of law firms as legal outsourcing and offshoring takes hold in the market.
• Understand how fast firms are adopting legal outsourcing, and in what specific functional areas.

Contents

Overview
Introduction
Summary
Methodology
Executive Summary
The legal outsourcing market is experiencing a major upheaval
Unprecedented access to key decision-makers within the major law firms
Analysis of law firm response to the opportunities and threats posed by LPO and LSO
Table of Contents
Table of Figures
Table of Tables
The Evolving Legal Outsourcing Market
The primary market players: enterprise legal functions, law firms and LPO providers
Three different models for legal outsourcing: conventional, LPO and now LSO
Activity flows with the legal outsourcing market
A major shift from tactical to strategic LPO
LPO is spreading steadily up the value levels
The emerging LSO model
Market Growth Predictions
The 'perfect storm'
Stage set for dramatic acceleration in LPO and LSO
LSO will fuel additional growth in LPO
LPO and LSO have significant future growth potential
Law Firms: Drivers and Responses
Demand for flexibility and cost reduction from enterprise legal functions
Increasingly effective competition from non-law firms
Growing law firm recognition of LPO and LSO a major threat and opportunity
Law firm adoption of new operating models now gathering pace
LPO pilot strategies set to become 'business as usual' across firms
Need for an LSO response becoming more urgent
Conclusions
Proactive law firms will reap longer-term benefits

APPENDIX

Further reading
Ask the analyst
Orbys consulting
Disclaimer

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Major law firms surveyed for this report (UK/international)
Table 2: A selection of offshore LPO and BPO providers

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Comparison of LPO and LSO
Figure 2: Legal outsourcing market dynamics
Figure 3: Primary LPO groupings by value level
Figure 4: LPO spreading steadily up the value triangle
Figure 5: Predicted two-year market growth for LPO and LSO
Figure 6: Predicted longer-term market growth
Figure 7: Priority of LPO/LSO initiatives: averaged across all firms
Figure 8: Priority of LPO/LSO initiatives: averaged most proactive firms
Figure 9: Status of LPO strategy
Figure 10: Law firm adoption of LPO provider relationships and LPO captives
Figure 11: Percentage of law firms engaged in each LPO area
Figure 12: Status of LSO strategy
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