Aphelion Insider

Not all LPOs are created the same.  For starters, project staffing and management options can run the gamut from temporary foreign contract attorneys to on-demand domestic associates to former partners from highly regarded U.S. and international firms.  Some LPOs compete on price, expertise, or breadth of service, and others a combination of all three. These companies’ corporate structures often mimic these competitive strategies by operating as solely domestic or foreign entities or as a hybrid onshore/offshore solution.  From a buyer’s perspective, there are pros and cons to working with a company that has adopted any one of these approaches.  Ultimately though, the goal is to devise a robust, efficient methodology for determining, ex ante, which among an ever growing number of LPOs offers the best combination of expertise, commitment to quality, affordability, flexibility and so on for a particular project - in sum, who offers the best value.      

Given the number of options available and the risks associated with making a bad decision, selecting the right LPO can be a difficult task.  And unlike purchasing a new car, a buyer can’t simply “kick the tires” or “check the oil” to determine value.  The calculus is more nuanced and subjective. 

To help protect LPO buyers from making a bad decision or suffering buyer’s remorse, below is a list of questions that should be asked before making any purchasing decision.  Continue reading ‘Kicking the Tires: What to Ask Before Purchasing LPO Services’ »

On August 14, 2008, Acumen Legal Services filed a comprehensive motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Newman, McIntosh & Hennesey, LLP, a Maryland law firm, arguing that the court has neither subject matter nor personal jurisdiction.  NMH v. Bush, Acumen Legal Services (India) Pvt. Ltd., et al., Civ. No. 08-00787 (CKK) (D.D.C., Amended Cmplt. filed May 7, 2008).  As most readers will already know, NMH’s lawsuit claims that alleged, anti-terrorism, governmental interception of communications between the U.S. and any foreign terminus waives confidentiality, privilege, and Fourth Amendment privacy rights that otherwise may have applied to documents or information transmitted to overseas LPOs through the web or other electronic channels.  The memorandum in support of the motion to dismiss catalogues a broad array of serious defects in NMH’s pleading, including lack of standing; no causation, injury in fact, or actual case or controversy; parties in interest not served or named; no factual or legal support for the requested declaratory and injunctive relief; and insufficient contact with D.C. to support long arm jurisdiction.  In light of the length of this list of defects and the fact that NMH did not cure them when it amended its complaint, the motion seeks dismissal with prejudice.  And the motion also makes express what many followers of the case have concluded:  “NMH’s unwarranted focus on foreign competitors suggests that NMH is not genuinely interested in any comprehensive solution to any problem regarding waiver of attorney-client or Fourth Amendment privileges.”   Mem. in Support at 13. 

In late June, I prepared and published on the Aphelion website a white paper criticizing the lawsuit and NMH’s related requests to the Ethics Committees of the Maryland and D.C. Bars for advisory opinions.  That initial white paper focused on procedural and policy issues as a way of emphasizing that NMH’s lawsuit, if successful, would affect not only the LPO industry, but also every law firm with a foreign office and every client with business abroad requiring foreign legal counsel.  Most responses to that white paper contained a general theme: Showing that the requested relief will affect myriad other entities besides LPOs does not prove that the law should not have such effects, whether on LPOs or anyone else.  Accordingly, I have amended the white paper to address the substantive defects of NMH’s waiver claims.  And although the motion to dismiss beat me to the punch by a couple days, its focus on jurisdictional issues rather than failure to state a claim means that the amended white paper still contributes news as part of the ongoing consideration and discussion of the case.  You can download a pdf of the revised white paper, or read a text version below. Continue reading ‘Electronic Surveillance and Offshore Legal Communications’ »

I recently spent some time with Bill Henderson, associate professor at my alma mater, Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington, and author of the recent research paper which has focused blog and other discussions about the theory and development of legal services, whether provided by law firms or LPOs: “Are We Selling Results or Résumés?: The Underexplored Linkage between Human Resource Strategies and Firm-Specific Capital,” Legal Studies Research Paper Series, No. 105 (Ind. U. Sch. Of L. - Bloomington, April 2008). Indeed, in the words of The AmLaw Daily, attention by journalists and periodicals to Henderson’s essay has set the legal world “atwitter.” His work has been the impetus for articles in the ABA Journal (”‘Cravath model’ that created have and have-not law grads could implode“), The New York Times (“Analysis: Law schools growing, but jobs aren’t“), and The National Law Journal (”A deluge of law schools“), among others. Continue reading ‘LPOs Must Prove Themselves Through Excellence’ »

Well conceived and implemented processes are essential to the delivery of consistently high quality products and services.  Much can be learned from Toyota and its Toyota Production System.  One of the pillars of the Toyota Production System is the commitment to quality control throughout the manufacturing process, rather than reliance on inspections after a vehicle has already been produced.  Called “jidoka,” this principle grants all front level employees the authority to stop the production line in case of abnormalities.  According to Jeffrey Liker and David Meier in their book “The Toyota Way Fieldbook,” a continuous and system-wide focus on quality control using the principle of jidoka is one of the key reasons that Toyota’s manufacturing process has achieved consistently superior results compared to other automobile manufacturers.

Jidoka can be applied just as effectively in a service process, such as large scale document review.  Continue reading ‘“Halting the Line” Improves Quality’ »

A few years ago, the overwhelming majority of lawyers in the United States were skeptical about the prospects of using common law trained attorneys in India to handle certain legal and legal support tasks.  But now the LPO industry is in an accelerating growth phase.  More and more corporate legal departments and law firms are seriously considering and choosing LPOs as a means for reducing legal bills and overhead.  And with the increase in actual and potential demand, the industry is seeing a significant growth on the supply side.  New LPOs of all different kinds are seemingly popping up every day.  Some claim to be full service, while others present a more focused suite of services.  Some are managed entirely in India, while others have western management teams.  With all of these new choices, corporate legal departments and law firms face greater difficulty choosing the right LPO partners. Continue reading ‘Should LPOs Be Offering to Fix Your Kitchen Sink?’ »

The American Conference Institute has organized an “LPO Summit” to take place September 15-16, 2008 at the Marriott Eastside in New York City. The organizers have designed the conference for those considering the possibility of offshoring legal services to India as well as those looking to improve and expand current offshore arrangements. My colleague Michael Geske, Aphelion’s Chief Operating Officer, is speaking on a panel at 12:00 pm on September 16 addressing “Ethical Considerations When Outsourcing Legal Services.” Mike has already written on the topic, and in the time he has spent with Aphelion, Mike has quickly become an expert on the ethical questions attorneys often raise when considering the LPO model. Mike will provide a comprehensive overview of the issues presented as well as several practical solutions to eliminate lingering ethical concerns.