This article appeared in Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, an ALM/Law Journal Newsletters publication covering all financial aspects of managing law firms, including: building a law firm budget; rates and rate arrangements with clients; coordinating benefits for law firm partners; and the newest strategies to grow your firm and your career.

The times they are a changin'. Or at least that's what the old song says. And in the back offices of many law firms, it's true. In the last 10 years the outsourcing tidal wave that dramatically changed the way corporate America was organized has washed into the administrative areas of law firms from San Francisco to London. Pick up a magazine or trade publication aimed at the legal community and it is hard not to find a story that details how outsourcing is the new wave of the future that will fundamentally change the way that law firms provide services to their clients and partners.