Junior Associates, and fresh lawyers, generally do the busy work for their firms. Tasks such as contract review, due diligence, and legal research take plenty of time, and if done by young attorneys still cost hundreds of dollars an hour to get done.
As the economy has declined big corporations began pushing their general counsels and associated firms to become more efficient and reduce costs. Thus, there was now a demand for legal outsourcing. However, major law firms are beginning to enter the market. "The number of legal outsourcing companies in India has mushroomed from 40 in 2005 to more than 140 at the end of 2009." (NYTimes article) This is totally understandable if "outsourcing firms charge between one-third and one-tenth what a Western law firm bills per hour" (NYTimes article). Litigators and specialists are not in danger, due to legislation both in India and the US, these companies cannot give legal advice (and obviously not show up in court), but the bulk of the legal work can be outsourced.
I love the idea. The idea that you can reduce costs and work load is awesome. Imagine just worrying about prepping a case and going to court, and leaving the bulk of legal research and contractual review to an outsourced legal firm. One independent attorney could now become competitive with a major corporate firm with an army of associates. I'm just a little nervous that it could inhibit me from getting a job out of law school. Can I jump 30 years into the future as an experienced attorney?
Your thoughts?
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