Law Times

Law Times • sepTember 19, 2016 Page 5 www.lawtimesnews.com Lawyers satisfied with legal process outsourcing BY GABRIELLE GIRODAY Law Times A new survey of more than 200 Canadian lawyers indicates that 40 per cent are using legal process outsourcing in their firms and departments and are satisfied with the experience. The survey — done by CorbinPartners and Taran Vir- tual Associates — is based on the opinions of 247 lawyers from across the country, including those who work in firms, corpo- rations or the government. "It was always the question; we know legal process outsourcing is expanding leaps and bounds internationally, but what's hap- pening in Canada? And we did find that it is a core strategy for . . . a significant component of the legal industry here," says Jon Purther, presi- dent and chief operating officer of CorbinPartners, a Toronto- based company. "We found that's especially true with corporate and govern- ment counsel. "We learned that those who are using this strategy are quite satisfied with it, they were mo- tivated by the idea of being able to access quality and specialized resources. "They wanted to be able to focus their time on their core business, and by outsourcing, would allow them to do so." Lawyers did the survey from May to July 2016, and they were invited to participate through legal associations such as the Canadian Bar Association and other provincial law bodies. Forty per cent of survey re- spondents indicated they cur- rently use LPO for work in their firms or departments. Of those who use LPO, 51 per cent said they used it for legal consultation or opinions, 37 per cent said they used it for agency work, 37 per cent said they used it for trial/appellate work, 36 per cent used it for legal research, 28 per cent said they use it for clerk/paralegal support and 24 per cent said they use it for doc- ument review or e-discovery. Respondents using LPO also indicated they were pleased with the results, with 41 per cent saying they were "somewhat sat- isfied" with their most recent provider of LPO services and 45 per cent saying they were "very satisfied." Nine per cent said they were "neither satisfied or dissatis- fied," with three per cent saying they were somewhat dissatisfied and two per cent saying they were very dissatisfied. The remaining question, says Purther, relates to non-users of LPO. For example, the survey in- dicates that "most of those not using LPO are not considering it for current or future business." "The primary obstacles in- clude concerns over the quality of the work and their existing ability to use in-house resources or hire as needed," according to an executive summary of the re- port. While 40 per cent of respon- dents are using LPO, 52 per cent said they were not currently using LPO, and eight per cent didn't know or couldn't say if it was in use. "They were uncertain or firm that they weren't going to be using this strategy, and when we tried to understand why that was the case for those who weren't, again, a lot of uncer- tainty — uncertainty about the quality of the work, concerns about losing control of the busi- ness, concerns about confiden- tiality, having in-house resourc- es that could do it so that they didn't feel the need to outsource. And I think that for legal process outsourcing to really have the jump, it's going to need to convert those who are not us- ing it to try to use it," says Pur- ther. Shelby Austin, a partner with Deloitte LLP and the national innovation and growth leader for the financial advisory prac- tice, says, "Outsourcing is cer- tainly here." She says the survey validates a trend that outsourcing isn't about cost but about specialized expertise, particularly when it comes to being "conversant in technology." "For example, in e-discovery, it's not just about the people, but it's also about harnessing pre- dictive analytics and efficient technologies. Similarly, in diligence, again, we're seeing the use of more ad- vanced technologies, in combi- nation with labour arbitrage, to provide a full set of services to clients," says Austin. The full study is not avail- able online, but a news release describing it is available on the CorbinPartners web site. LT NEWS Shelby Austin says legal process 'outsourc- ing is certainly here.' 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