As a paid-up law firm watcher, there is a thought that’s been bugging me in recent months: I can’t work out the point of offshoring in legal services. I’m referring mainly to the model of sending support services to countries such as India on the basis that you can slash costs by hiring much cheaper but highly-qualified staff.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t doubt the size of the talent pool in India, nor that staff are a lot cheaper than in expensive cities like London. But I can’t get around the fact that such initiatives have high upfront costs and cause major disruption. And all that to probably ultimately reach a lower standard of work than you had before.
