Possible New Entrant?

We recently saw a possible new entrant into the legal outsourcing sector. Thompson Reuters announced what appears to be a quasi-legal outsourcing center in Taguig City, Philippines. It’s not clear if this is for internal purposes only or if they will be directly competing in the LPO space. As an information service organization, Thompson Reuters potentially comes into the LPO market with a unique angle and vast connections with legal professionals around the world.

It will be interesting to see how this will make an impact in several of areas. How will this change the relationship between Reuters and their clients? Will firms coming into the market find it more attractive to pick up a company rather than grow their own? Will this continue to blur the lines in the legal outsourcing industry, in this case, library sciences?

More discussion is also available at 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

Philippines Contending

While the Philippines has not exhibited quite the level of growth of legal outsourcing as geographies such as India and South Africa, the Philippines remain a strong contender for offshore legal talent. An interesting release by the Outsourcing Portfolio outlined some of the advantages of the Philippines, which for some areas directly translated into competitive advantages for outsourced legal service delivery.