While consolidation and competition continue to exert pressure on law firm management in the UK, the legal profession has slowly been importing outsourcing as a management tool from industry and commerce. This apparently simple concept has long been regarded in the corporate world as a key mechanism to deliver effective business strategies as well as tactical objectives such as improved customer response or delivery times, reduced assets or headcount and convert fixed costs to variable costs. In many organisations, functions such as IT, finance and HR have been outsourced to expert providers who service a number of similar businesses and can therefore deliver economies and efficiencies of scale which are passed back to the provider’s clients.
Although relatively unexplored in law firm management, the outsourcing debate has moved quickly in the last two to three years and has risen rapidly up the law firm management agenda. Firms are increasingly seeking ways to significantly improve client service levels, positively impact partner profits and allow the senior management team to focus on strategy and growth.
