Provided you haven’t been living under a rock the last decade, you’ve probably heard about the surge in popularity of LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing) here in Canada. You might have read think pieces, discussed it with colleagues, and in all likelihood worked alongside an outsourced legal professional. For some, it’s an odd prospect – it shakes up the traditional law firm in such a way that makes certain people uneasy. But legal outsourcing is far from odd, nor is it just a flash in the pan – it’s the logical restructuring of an industry, and it benefits everyone.
There are benefits for partners, associates, young legal professionals, and clients. This article will attempt to lay out those benefits in specific, with the express purpose of making it clear that firms should embrace LPO as a viable, efficient solution for some of the problems in the Canadian legal industry.
Benefits For Partners
Perhaps the most obvious (certainly the most discussed) benefit of legal outsourcing is that it saves firms money. With LPO from a reputable Canadian outsourcer like LexLocom a firm can scale up its business without having to hire more full-time associates. Before, a firm might have seen a boom period of work, where they had to hire a new, salaried associate to adjust, only to find once the work died down a little that they were losing money paying an extra person in the room. With LPO it’s never like that. You take all the risk out of scaling up.
Benefits For Associates
So, you might wonder, are outsourced jobs replacing new associates? No. New lawyers still get hired to firms all the time (sometimes even through LPO, which can act as a sort of trial period), and in fact make life at a firm easier for associates. With outsourced legal support, a lawyer at a firm can turn her or his attention away from more middling tasks – ediscovery, FOIA requests, document review – and toward their core competencies. If you have a very specific case you’re working on that requires specialization, LPO can also be greatly beneficial, since you can effectively handpick a specialized legal professional from a large database.
Benefits For Young Lawyers
There might have been a time when jobs were ready for lawyers the second they graduated law school, but it’s not like that anymore. The waning legal market has been well documented, and LPO, one could argue, is a direct and frank response to that. Young legal professionals still need jobs, and LPO can be a great way for them to cut their teeth, gain experience and work alongside experienced associates.
Benefits For Clients
Clients don’t want to work with a firm that’s “stretched thin at the moment”. For good reason, they want your full attention. By outsourcing legal support, you ensure that each client receives theattention and care they deserve.
It’s time for firms everywhere to start embracing LPO. It offers an economical way to scale up a firm, an easy way for associates to focus on their core competencies, a great way for young lawyers to get their start, and – at the end of the day – a happy client.
