Legal Process Outsourcing Awards

As consolidation reshapes the global LPO landscape, India Business Law Journal reveals the leading service providers

By Vandana Chatlani

Faced with a frenzy of activity, legal process outsourcing (LPO) providers have been kept on their toes this month. US President Barack Obama’s visit to India presented an opportunity to air grievances, as LPOs expressed their concerns over new tax rules in the US that may spell trouble for service providers with Indian operations. However, this was balanced by celebration as the industry witnessed its first wave of consolidation: a sign of growing maturity in a still-nascent industry. Clients too, appear to be treating the legal process outsourcing industry with a greater level of trust and respect.

“One thing we’ve seen is a real change in terms of how law firms are viewing LPOs,” says Sanjay Kamlani, co-CEO at Pangea3. “Law firms have been approaching LPOs like ours using the services and value-add to be innovative and add to their offerings to clients.”

As trust between LPOs and their clients continues to increase, so too does the sophistication of the work that is being entrusted to them. “A forward-looking trend that we see is the high-end, higher-value work, which involves a greater skill set,” says Russell Smith, president at SDD Global Solutions, an LPO provider with operations in Mysore and Bangalore. “Now that legal outsourcing companies have broken the ice, the next logical step is high-value. It’s not the flavour of the month by any means, but we’re looking towards the future.”

India Business Law Journal would like to thank all of the corporate executives, in-house counsel, private practice lawyers and outsourcing professionals who generously participated in the research for the LPO Awards.