Outsource Issue 22 - (Page 42)
The LSO View
Leah Cooper is Director, Legal Services Outsourcing, for CPA Global, a leading provider of outsourced legal services and intellectual property management. We met with Leah to get her take on the ongoing expansion of the LSO space, and the changing requirements of increasingly savvy clients…
outsource: Leah, over the past few
years, LPO or LSO has always been a boom waiting to happen but has never quite reached critical mass. Is that a fair comment? Leah Cooper: I think it’s on the brink of booming; we are getting a tremendous amount of traction in the market and our sales teams are out every day talking with many of the world’s leading companies and law firms about how LSO can help them. When outsourcing legal services, the customers can still be very conservative. Lawyers by nature are not first movers. There have been a lot of people waiting, asking “does this really work?”. But it’s becoming more tried and tested – and, over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a significant change in market perceptions, moving from scepticism to widespread acceptance of outsourcing as part of mainstream legal services delivery. Of course, to get a corporate legal team to move into outsourcing is a big project and people have day jobs! When I did it at Rio Tinto, it became a focal point of my everyday work. But the secret to success in a legal services outsourcing relationship is to invest in the relationship. You can’t outsource a problem. You have to work with your provider so that they understand your needs, which, in turn, enables you to gain the maximum benefit from the relationship. isn’t that hard. This is the sell: that everyday basic legal tasks can easily be outsourced. “The elements that you need to focus on are the complex ones; give us the non-complex stuff.” It’s about conveying that message and doing a bit of education around what it entails: it seems a little scary, it seems complex, but it really isn’t.
o: So what are the drivers that are
propelling this forthcoming boom? LC: Cost is always a consideration - but it’s not all about cost. What we’re finding is that efficiency is a huge factor. It’s crucial for a legal department to be more standardised, centralised, and to be able to do more with less – and not reinvent the wheel every time they go to do something that maybe somebody around the globe has already done. We are getting requests from a number of clients for help with standardising their processes. Once you get some standardisation, the cost and savings follow.
o: Is there a danger for the established
legal industry that by reducing costs at that basic, lower end you’re going to impact costs along the chain? A specialist I spoke with recently said that advocating LSO is like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas… LC: Not at all. We’ve launched an ad campaign with the tagline “Don’t waste talent”. Companies and law firms have bright, talented people that are well paid so let them do what they are being paid for instead of this other basic work. I feel that legal outsourcing helps lawyers - whether it is an in-house legal team or law firm associates - to up their game, and earn their keep. If you get rid of that low-level, low-complexity activity, then lawyers are focusing on more strategic legal advice which is what you are paying them for. And it’s better motivation for them as well.
o: That’s one thing that LSO specifically
has in common with outsourcing more broadly. Looking at some distinctions: do you think that it’s harder to outsource legal services because it’s a more complex industry? LC: I think the complexities are a myth. It’s a misperception because people think, “legal services: this is hard” - when in reality what is being outsourced is the work that
s
CPA Global focuses on five main service areas: document review (e.g. for litigation and regulatory investigations); transaction support (including M&A); contract drafting and review; legal research; and intellectual property management.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 22
Outsource Issue 22
Table of Contents
Shutting the Door?
Q&A: Deborah Kops
Colombia
LPO
Editorial Board Roundtable
Head-to-Head
HR Trends
Long Live AMS!
The Provider Perspective
Platforms Make Sense in the Cloud!
NOA Pathway
Case Study: Kingâs College Hospital
Egypt
Silver Lining
Roundtable Write-Up
Case Study: Nokia & Hyphen
Alan Leaman
Leah Cooper
Kay Formanek
Paul Awcock
News & Comment
The Legal View
NOA Roundup
Online Roundup
Letter to the CEO
Letters to the Editor
Sourcebites
Inside Source
The Last Word
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