One thread at DU yesterday was about legal work being outsourced

[KlatooBNikto]

to India.It mentioned that this is not just back office work but hard legal work involving first rate legal firms in India replacing American lawyers at some of our biggest firms.Many of them are apparently setting up offices in Bombay and Bangalore to tap into a large pool of well educated lawyers in India.These lawyers are educated in India, UK and US and are every bit as good as their UK or US counterparts.

The attraction, as in the case of IT workers, once again ,is the low fees charged by Indian lawyers.What is disturbing to me is that the legal profession in this country employs a large pool of well educated people who form part of our middle class.I can see in about ten years, this trickle turning into a flood.

Which professions will be next?

[Diana52]

1. May I suggest.....

talking heads???

[KlatooBNikto]

3. Good choice and I would like to be at the top of the line to say good

riddance.

[Mad As Hell]

2. Yo.

I emailed that piece to my conservative friends, lawyers like me, who said it can't happen to us. I happened to see a consulting study for a top financial firm that said that this could and should happen (to increase profits)and no one has believed me. For obvious reasons, I could not pass this study around.

[KlatooBNikto]

4. It seems to me any profession that does not actually require the

person to be present at the site would be vulnerable.Imagine losing your livelihood to an internet connection!

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. I hate to break it to you but...

The legal system is broken in this country in so many different ways. Most cases don't go to court because they get settled. So, all you have to do is convince the other party that you have a team of lawyers ready to pounce AND you are ornery enough to pay the cost to do it.

The legal profession has long been cost-prohibitive for even the middle class. That's one of the reasons why we live with so much corruption in this country. It's less expensive to live with the damages, than it is to afford a lawyer.

In addition, our court system is corrupt. No polite way to say it. All you have to do is see the cozy relationship between judges. lawyers, their personal land-holdings, and the decisions which have benefitted individual property rights to understand where the disconnect occurred.

Going to India will only continue the erosion of integrity in the system. It's already a joke. Why not make it a complete Monty Python Flying Circus?

[sam sarrha]

8. so is the reason we have 25% of the worlds prisoners incarcerated with 2%

of the population that corruption..% or the failing of our schools or just poverty...??

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. According to a lawyer friend of mine...

(Former prosecutor and rock-ribbed Dem), those without the means to afford competent legal counsel are effectively shut out of the functions and the fruits of the legal system.

There is no polite way to say it: There is no legal system for the poor. Except being charged with a crime or being served with papers in a civil action. If that happens, the courts usually assign a lawyer to the case. Too often, said lawyer is no competent within that area of the law, and is only there to get his pro bono ticket punched and negotiate a settlement that may well victimise the defendent and then get the hell out with as few hours spent on the case as possible.

The Hollywood model of the crusading pro bono lawyer who rises up and smites the oppressors of the poor is nothing more than a plot device.

[AP]

17. This has nothing to do with criminal law. You can't outsource criminal law

because so much of criminal law requires court appearances.

This is about large corporate law firms getting cheap labor to do the research and drafting while they still charge their customers Manhattan-fees for the work.

I don't think this is going to have much of an impact becuase one of the biggest motivating factors for lawyers is a stern rebuking from the senior partner on your file. That threat disappears when you're a senior associate or junior partner in a law firm a couple thousand miles away.

The work is just not going to be up to par.

Maybe drafting patent and TM claims could be outsourced (because it's so standardized). But I don't see contracts or much else being outsourceable.

[sweetheart]

11. War on drugs

Because of a politicized war to imprison potential liberal voters
and war protestors. (see nixon).

I don't know the percentage, but they say a majority of that
population is from the WOD.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. On the button.

Too much emphasis on street crime "WOD", and not enough on crimes committed by the pillars of our community.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Open trap, and you walked right in.

"Street crime" is the primary focus of our criminal justice department. White collar crime doesn't carry the same stiff sentences, nor are the laws written to provide for tighter scrutiny. In fact, with deregulation, we've gone in the opposite direction.

[sam sarrha]

9. so is the reason we have 25% of the worlds prisoners incarcerated with 2%

of the population that corruption..% or the failing of our schools or just poverty...??

[Joy Anne]

6. publishing

A lot of printing, binding, etc., has been outsourced abroad for decades, but now Indian companies are taking over book packaging. Many of them are U.S.-based companies or with U.S. branches because much of the work requires U.S. English, and Indians learn British English.

I'm a copyeditor and figure I'll have decently paid work for the 10 or 20 years of working life I have left, but the long-term outlook is dubious. Most of my work comes and goes by email attachments that can as easily go to Madras as to Pennsylvania.

[sweetheart]

7. Trial lawyers are the largest democratic doners

Just look down the list to see who's next.
(federal workers)

Were the tables turned opposite, i presume we'd be outsourcing
the military.

[DebJ]

13. didn't Bush do that in Tora Bora? Ha.

[Deja Q]

12. Well, at least the lawyers can fight to make laws that protect themselves

I say let 'em be outsourced.

Every occupation worth money will be outsourced, if/when the opportunity arises.

Maybe, once the trend goes so far, somebody will fight back.

[lawladyprof]

16. Can anyone give me the link

to the thread or article? Thanks

[elehhhhna]

18. As one who knows firsthand, firms have NO IDEA what liability

they take on by offshoring sensitive information.

Corporate /legal espionage is on the rise bigtime and offshoring this stuff just means the bribes are MUCH lower and WAY easier to throw around. If I were a corp client I'd never accept the use of offshore firms, in-house outsourced (like a Xerox run copy depatment), or temps in general.

No control. No security. None.