One of the grounds on which legal outsourcing is most vociferously criticized is its ethics. Much has been said for and against it but the fact remains that LPO is now a reality and a fast growing one at that.
Among all the discussions and arguments for and against it, the New York City Bar Association confirmed that there was nothing unethical in outsourcing legal works to overseas lawyers, paralegal, or others as long as it is properly supervised.
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An opinion with regard to ethical concerns about a law firm outsourcing legal work on behalf of a client has been issued by the San Diego Bar Association. In its opinion, such a firm could not be accused of assisting in the unauthorized practice of law or of violating its ethical duty of competency.
In conclusion the Association stated,
“The Committee concludes that outsourcing does not dilute the attorney’s professional responsibilities to his client, but may result in unique applications in the way those responsibilities are discharged. Under the hypothetical as we have framed it, the California attorneys may satisfy their obligations to their client in the manner in which they used Legalworks, but only if they have sufficient knowledge to supervise the outsourced work properly and they make sure the outsourcing does not compromise their other duties to their clients. However, they would not satisfy their obligations to their clients unless they informed the client of Legalworks’ anticipated involvement at the time they decided to use the firm to the extent stated in this hypothetical.”

LawScribe, Inc., from Los Angeles, having offices in New York and Gurgaon, India has recently, announced that it has secured the approval of its legal outsourcing ethics presentation for MCLE ethics from the State Bar of California.

This will soon be offered to corporate counsel, law firms and legal departments across the country and is expected to cover the ethical, security, and liability risks associated with the outsourcing of higher-value legal work and non-core work abroad.

Kunoor Chopra, LawScribe’s CEO and President, described the progress of the seminar from its initial steps to its realization. “We have always taken great care to ensure that our Indian attorneys are not engaged in the unauthorized practice of law and that our law firm and in-house counsel clients are fully aware of the supervisory responsibilities incumbent upon them in any offshore legal outsourcing relationship,” she is reported to have said.

“This course is based on the domain expertise that we have built up over the last 4 years and the best practices that the leading legal process outsourcing companies, including LawScribe, currently have in place.”

The web-based and in-person seminars will also deal with matters concerning security and confidentiality risks linked to offshore legal outsourcing and possible differences of interest. It is scheduled to also include guidelines about the billing of outsourced work.

According to LawScribe’s Director from the U.K. Mark Ross, LawScribe is probably one of the first LPOs (legal process outsourcing) in the marketplace, if not the only, to receive such certification by any of the State Bar associations.
Hr described it as further evidence of their ongoing commitment to raising standards within the legal process outsourcing industry.