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Is Outsourcing an Opportunity for Law Firms?
In the very broadest sense, any service acquired outside of an organization to supplement core services and resources is outsourced. Although outsourcing is a bad word among some categories of employees, it allows companies to focus on core competence, build expertise, control expenses, eliminate waste and directly provide value to clients or customers. Ideally, the vendor bears the overhead cost for the outsourced service, and when the need comes to an end, so does the financial relationship.
Opportunities for outsourcing exist for law firms as well. Over the four decades since the explosive growth in private firms began, many of their needs have been outsourced, from mailroom and photocopy services to accounting. Legal research has been outsourced to leased databases, and so has more specialized legal research and brief writing, the traditional work of law firm associates. Since associates, paralegals, and library services now make up a substantial part of a law firm's operating budget, properly leveraging the best talent and outsourcing the balance of services can stop the bleeding of many firms. Reassessing the meaning of profitability can also help. If the right outside provider is found, this can be an ideal relationship for cost-conscious management.
Law Firms are Reducing Redundant Real Estate by Bringing Support Services Back to the Office
A trend analysis of the benefits and challenges of bringing back administrative, word processing and billing services to law offices.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Bit Parts
Summary Judgment Denied Defendant in Declaratory Action by Producer of To Kill a Mockingbird Broadway Play Seeking Amateur Theatrical Rights
Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel
'Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel is a continuation of the discussion of client expectations and the disconnect that often occurs. And although the outside attorneys should be pursuing how inside-counsel actually think, inside counsel should make an effort to impart this information without waiting to be asked.