Reacting to client needs

Corporate legal departments have always been under pressure to cut or at least constrain their legal spending, but in the current economic climate there is no longer any room for negotiation. General counsel are demanding greater innovation from their legal suppliers in the way that they complete and bill for work, and choosing to go elsewhere if they don’t get it.

Law firms have their own pressures to manage, not least plotting their own survival in a competitive industry and retaining their talented workforces in a shrinking marketplace. However, it’s important that the look to act now if they are to have the capability and vision to evolve along with their clients’ needs and overcome the current economic challenges unscathed.

Many law firms consider legal process outsourcing (LPO) to be a threat to their services or client base. But, in actual fact, LPO can help law firms put processes and resources in place to deliver services to clients in a more tailored and cost-effective manner. 

Case study: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner

Capital and resources are just as scarce within law firms as they are within their clients' legal departments. LPO services can enable firms to provide a complete service without compromising the workloads or responsibilities of their in-house staff, as Steven Lundberg, Founding Shareholder or SLW explains.

Used as a foundation or back-up to your business, it can allow you to respond to anticipated and unanticipated legal research needs, to meet tight timeframes without sacrificing quality or training and managing staff, and to ensure quality and service no matter how fluctuating your clients’ demands. Most importantly, it can provide you with a cost-effective solution for cash-strapped corporate clients, many of whom are looking to pursue this solution with or without their law firms’ assistance.

CPA Global works with corporate legal departments and their law firms to provide a three-tiered solution to outsourced services. Generally this involves soaking up crucial but low-level projects, such as contract review, legal research, M&A and due diligence work. This not only minimises costs, but also frees up the law firm to dedicate itself to the higher-level, more strategic advice that their clients need. 

We also work alongside law firms on white-label projects, so that we can pick up volume work on behalf of multiple clients, whether that involves specialist workloads, such as intellectual property (IP) or more routine tasks, such as legal docketing. 

Clients are beginning to ask why they are paying high hourly rates for senior associates to fulfil low-level functions, like document review or docketing, but law firms should also be asking themselves whether those tasks are really the best use of their employee’s time and expertise? LPO services take the administrative work away from your legal team for the benefit of your law firm and your clients, and puts a crucial resource in place that you can call upon for last-minute workloads and client demands.