Wednesday, 10 Mar 2010
South Africa: Lovells outsources legal work
06 February 2009
London law firm Lovells has hired South African firm Exigent in a move to outsource document production for one of its practices.
The company will carry out word processing for the real estate practice which will be a test for further outsourcing around the firm.
More law firms are looking at outsourcing in a bid to cut costs with India currently the top destination.Lovells has previously sent work to India as has global law firms such as Clifford Chance, Eversheds, Jones Day and Kirkland & Ellis.
A report from Forrester Research estimated that in the US over 50,000 legal jobs would be moved overseas by 2015.
In India, lawyers mark documents and undertake due diligence for around $20 dollars an hour.
Companies with in-house legal departments in India include DuPont, Cisco Systems, and Morgan Stanley whilst General Electric is estimated to send about about $3 million a year in routine legal work to its Indian affiliate.
