Today, outsourcing continues to evolve and is gaining momentum as corporations increasingly rely on legal outsourcing to back up their overworked and under-staffed legal departments. More corporations are realizing that a local corporate attorney can negotiate and structure many of the same deals and settlements as an in-house attorney, and provide effective legal support at multiple levels.

Despite the obvious popularity, questions remain as to the type of legal work that can be outsourced to a local corporate attorney. Here is a list of some legal services that a corporation can outsource:

1. Legal Document Review. If your company has ever been involved in any type of litigation, then you know the process can require the review of stacks of documents. A local corporate attorney can review your legal documents in order to assess their relevance, and determine what actions (if any) are required in relation to the legal matter.

2. Legal Research. Researching a legal topic can require a significant amount of time to complete and may involve researching various sources of law in multiple jurisdictions to obtain the information you are looking for. It requires a considerable amount of time to thoroughly search multiple databases, law books, and on/offline resources. Legal research is a service that is often outsourced to a local corporate attorney.

3. Contract Negotiations and Drafting. Whether you are offering services or products, you will find that written contracts are essential to doing business. But, all contracts are not created equal. In order to be considered valid, there are essential clauses every Florida contract must have. Corporate attorneys spend a significant amount of time negotiating, drafting and enforcing ironclad legal contracts, and can make sure your contract passes muster and will protect your company.

4. Employment Disputes. Not every employee relationship will end the same way that it started. There will be times disputes will arise and they can get costly. In many instances, these types of disputes could have been prevented if a legally binding contract existed expressing the terms and obligations of all parties. A local contract attorney can prepare binding employment contracts and non-disclosure agreements that will outline the obligations and responsibilities of both the corporation and employee.

While there may be a need for your corporation to employ in-house attorneys, there may be times you can use the help of a local lawyer on a contractual basis. You can outsource the legal servic

es listed above and several other legal services to a local corporate attorney.

As we end 2009 and enter a new year, the legal industry is experiencing ongoing changes and shifts in thinking as new trends in outsourcing begin to surface. Many corporations and legal departments are outsourcing various legal services to solo and small firm practitioners within the boundaries of the United States.

Fulbright Study: Corporate Attorneys are Outsourcing

In an earlier post, we discussed the 2009 Fulbright Study in which corporate attorneys in many countries were surveyed on topics affecting legal departments, and the manner in which they provide legal services.

Amongst other things, the survey results revealed that many of the corporate attorneys are relying on outside counsel, often solo and small firm practitioners, to provide the same legal services in-house attorneys would generally handle.

Approximately 76% of the corporate attorneys indicate their companies outsource certain tasks to outside counsel. And, when asked to rate their satisfaction with the outside counsel’s ability to meet their needs, nearly 90% indicate they are satisfied with the services provided by outside counsel.

Reasons Corporations Outsource to Small Firm Practitioners

Outsourcing is an attractive option for corporations that are trying to reduce their costs, control their spending, and continue to stay on top of their massive workloads. There are several reasons corporations turn to outsourcing. I will address a couple of the reasons below:

• Small firm practitioners tend to have lower overhead costs and can afford to offer their services at competitive rates; while large firms are often forced to set their hourly rates according to their monthly costs, expenses and total overhead.
• In many instances, solo and small firm practitioners provide higher quality work product and faster turnaround times as they tend to juggle fewer legal matters than typical large firms.
• A corporation’s legal department can more accurately estimate their budgets and control legal spending when they outsource to small firm practitioners that offer flat rate and other alternative fee arrangements.

Obviously, the above list of reasons corporations choose to outsource is not an exhaustive list. You can expect more discussions on outsourcing and small firm practitioners in the weeks to come.

In the meantime, I’d like to hear from you.

Are you a corporation considering (or currently) outsourcing to a solo or small firm practitioner, or are you a practitioner providing legal services to large corporations? How is it working for your corporation or small firm?

Fulbright generally surveys corporate counsel on issues concerning legal spending, budget concerns, and other general issues affecting litigation. However, the 2009 survey inquires about other issues that are of growing importance, such as how the economic downturn is affecting legal departments and corporations, alternate fee arrangements, the increasing use and costs of e-discovery, as well as the personal use of social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc by their employees.

Fulbright Survey Findings

The survey responders revealed interesting facts about the state of the legal profession and the direction in which it’s moving.

76% of the corporate attorneys indicate their companies outsource certain e-discovery functions to outside counsel. When asked to rate their satisfaction with outside counsel’s ability to meet their needs as they relate to electronic discovery, cost management and budget forecasts, a large majority (nearly 90%) indicate they are satisfied with the services provided by outside attorneys.

Read more about Fulbright’s findings here…