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Is Outsourcing an Opportunity for Law Firms?

By Nina Cunningham

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.

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