Anyone can see that the legal industry is in the throes of a transformation. No longer are law departments automatically sending all their work straight to their law firm. Instead, they are more frequently taking a bespoke approach—deciding how to best deliver each type of work. Some is still going to law firms and more is getting done in-house, but many legal services traditionally performed by law firms or in-house resources are moving toward a model where third-party providers—often referred to as alternative legal services providers or ALSPs—are engaged to perform a variety of functions. This move delivers cost savings and scalability while still conforming to a client’s internal policies and risk standards.
While it is gaining traction, this type of outsourcing is not new. For many years we have helped law departments take advantage of outsourcing and managed services, and learned to respect the potential pitfalls and make the service productive. A successful outsourcing engagement is dependent upon several key components. We’ll discuss three crucial areas that can have a large impact on an engagement.
