Fronterion Newsletter Release: Is onshore the new offshore?

This month the focus of the Fronterion Forefront newsletter includes a number of recent developments in the onshore legal outsourcing segment. This includes third-party vendors expanding their domestic footprint or law firms establishing their own centers.

“When legal process outsourcing (LPO) exploded onto the scene a few years ago, its success was built on the efforts of hard-working attorneys in India, South Africa and the Philippines, who were willing to do the same tasks for less.

But LPO, just like the legal profession it serves, is evolving.

Now, those attorneys could just as well be in Ohio or Belfast, working in so-called ‘onshore’ outsourcing centers, which are low-cost but closer to clients and often run by law firms themselves rather than external providers.”

Given these developments, an interesting question is raised: What is the role of traditional LPOs if a growing segment of law firms adopt the best practices of the LPO industry and, thus, feel they are better positioned to establish their own centers domestically?

The newsletter provides some interesting commentary and quotes on this continuing debate. For more details on the growing onshore debate, email forefront@fronterion.com for the most recent copy.

In response, a number of LPO vendors are ramping up their onshore delivery capabilities. A visible growth trajectory of an onshore third-party LPO was recently released by UnitedLex. UnitexLex plans to triple its personnel ‘on-the-ground’ in the greater Kansas City area from 85 to approximately 250 over the next several years. This represents a growing proportion of domestic legal professionals part of the 650 UnitedLex employees based largely in Gurgaon, India.

A number of the trends on the topic of onshore and growing jurisdictional reach are also included in our annual legal outsourcing trending report available here.