NYT: Outsourcing to India Draws Western Lawyers

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/business/global/05legal.html?emc=eta1

NOIDA, India — As an assistant attorney general for New York State, Christopher Wheeler used to spend most of his time arguing in courtrooms in New York City.

Today, he works in a sprawling, unfinished planned suburb of New Delhi, where office buildings are sprouting from empty lots and dirt roads are fringed with fresh juice stalls and construction rubble. At Pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm, Mr. Wheeler manages a team of 110 Indian lawyers who do the grunt work traditionally assigned to young lawyers in the United States — at a fraction of the cost.

India’s legal outsourcing industry has grown in recent years from an experimental endeavor to a small but mainstream part of the global business of law. Cash-conscious Wall Street banks, mining giants, insurance firms and industrial conglomerates are hiring lawyers in India for document review, due diligence, contract management and more.

Now, to win new clients and take on more sophisticated work, legal outsourcing firms in India are actively recruiting experienced lawyers from the West. And American and British lawyers — who might once have turned up their noses at the idea of moving to India, or harbored an outright hostility to outsourcing legal work in principle — are re-evaluating the sector.

more at link above. Where will outsourcing finally stop ??

[WinkyDink]

1. i USED to think the answer was "teachers." Not with computers! I guess we're left with food-servers.

[joeybee12]

3. Or any type of service job...which has traditionally been low-paying...n/t

[joeybee12]

2. It won't stop on its own...Congress has to pass legislation that will make

it stop...and given their pro-corporation mentality these days, it's going to get far worse before it gets better.

[Triana]

7. It will stop when it hurts them more to do it...

...than they're gaining from it.

Don't hold your breath.

[47of74]

4. Ugh

Anyone who thinks I'm entrusting any of my personal legal needs to someone in India can go straight to hell.

[OhioChick]

5. They already have all of your financial information, etc.

Crazy, isn't it?

[Hello_Kitty]

6. HILARIOUS!! The lawyers are being outsourced! eom