This is the third post in a five-part series dealing with Legal Waste and outsourcing strategies to overcome it. Many corporations and law firms have begun incorporating the cost- effective strategy of Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) in order to break the cycle of Legal Waste at their companies. This post examines how to unbundle legal services in order to eliminate toxic Legal Waste at your corporation or law firm.
Has your legal budget gone untamed and crept up year after year into an unmanageable and unpredictable mess? Did it start out as one small vine and grow to look like the outfield walls of a certain beloved Chicago landmark?
Many corporations and law firms are using Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) to transfer services typically handled internally to outside contractors where the costs are lower. Specialists can always do tasks more efficiently because streamlined systems are in place and repetition of tasks leads to expertise. In the past, law firms had all of the bargaining power and clients were faced with a take it or leave it situation. However, due to the current economic climate and extreme competition, clients now can dictate how their legal services are delivered.
So how exactly does your corporation or law firm unbundle its legal services? You start by breaking down the legal services your corporation or law firm requires into separate identifiable tasks such as overall strategy, document review, contract drafting, research, brief writing, etc. Tasks such as designing legal strategy, legal research, and document review are all separate undertakings that should be unbundled for maximum cost effectiveness while still maintaining quality results.
Under the unbundling method, the big law partner serves as the director or coach, setting strategy and giving direction. Then, the position players, such as the document review team and the legal research and writing team, perform their individual and discrete tasks under the direction and guidance of the strategy lawyer and corporate client. Using this team approach results in the greatest level of expertise and the greatest cost savings to the client.
Once the discrete legal tasks are identified, there are three ways to unbundle these legal services:
1. If your corporation is doing all of the discrete legal tasks in-house, break down the tasks into separate assignments and outsource them to specialists. This can result in great savings by eliminating unnecessary in-house legal staff;
2. If your corporation is using big law firms, you can outsource by using the "Mexican Wave" approach. Under this method, the corporation chooses the law firm and service providers to partner together to create the best quality product for the lowest price to the corporation. There is a certain synergy between the participating organizations and all must have a cultural fit with the corporation;
3. If you are a law firm, you can also outsource some of the discrete legal tasks, such as document review and legal research, to outsourcing specialists. Not only will this result in maximum savings to your clients and win you their undying devotion, you can also make a profit on the work of the specialists per ABA formal Op. 08-451.
Unbundling is easy once the discrete legal tasks are identified and the high-quality legal service providers are selected. This will put you on the path to eliminating toxic Legal Waste at your corporation or law firm in no time.
Next up: Outsourcing legal services to U.S. based providers is the new wave.