Legal outsourcing growing fast in India

Source : www.newindpress.com

First there were the common consumer solutions and business processes that were outsourced. Next came research and knowledge, followed by e-learning with the West outsourcing its teaching needs to countries like India.

The latest in line is the Legal Process Outsourcing, a one that is estimated to be a $640 million industry in India by 2010. As many as 1,800 people are involved in legal outsourcing in the country, an industry that is said to be worth $146 million currently.

Clutch Group with 300 plus lawyers involved in litigation support, contract management, real estate legal and legal research all over the world, set up shops in Bangalore a couple of months ago.

Speaking to this website's newspaper, Abhi Shah, CEO of Clutch Group said that the global LPO market is worth $250 billion.

"Of this, 77 per cent is from the US, 18 per cent from the UK and 5 per cent is contributed by the rest of the world. It is also estimated that the top 200 companies in the US spend about $ 120 billion every year on legal services alone, $ 10 billion of which is the outsourcing sector," he said.

Shah, forseeing the potential for the industry in India, further said that well over 70,000 English speaking advocates graduated every year in the country, contributing to the talent pool needed for the industry to grow.

The underlying potential is also estimated to increase India's market share in the global scenario from the present 3-4 percent to 6-7 percent in the next two years. LPO saves up to 70 per cent in legal services cost to the company, say industry experts.

With outsourcing processes taking over in the e-learning, equity research and legal sectors, next in line would be outsourcing of blueprints in the architecture sector.