Why Legal Research Should Be Outsourced
Time Efficiency: Law firm practitioners operate under strict, and in many ways more onerous, billable time requirements than their corporate counterparts. With 10 to 15 billing hours per day being ideal, all non-billable tasks are detrimental to financial achievement and success. For senior law firm associates, legal research, whether for a client, senior partner or for developing own expertise in an area of the law, can easily dwarf non-billable hours each day. Outsourcing research helps avoid this issue. If you need to be conducting research, do it in a time-efficient manner and outsource whenever possible or prudent; particularly for legal issues in which you have little experience. You will recover your time (and then some!).
Cost Effectiveness: This is not as simple as it sounds. Your cost for legal research may not be limited to paying the billable rate of a junior associate. For larger firms, the costs may include training and support, other research level attorneys, reference librarians and various databases. For corporate or litigation departments, legal research costs may include training a single attorney or a group of attorneys not previously experienced in an area of practice. While direct hourly costs may be lower than your current rates, indirect costs (as listed above) can add up quickly . Additionally, a linear review of these indirect costs may likely increase efficiency and accuracy, albeit at a slower rate, over time.
Expertise: Legal research resource providers are often former members of law firms or corporate legal departments, with practical, real-world experience and in-depth expertise. Even plain vanilla legal research, such as solely interpreting/applying/citing to precedent from previously decided cases, is rarely straight forward. Law school taught the fundamental skills of not only conducting, but broadly understanding the results of legal research. However, most legal research graduates, once on the job, are overloaded with "real world" demands that distract from the underlying basic research skills required to understand research results. The nuances of interpreting/applying/citing to precedent from previously decided cases is more often than not overwhelming and, unfortunately, eluded. Without painful lessons learned (i.e. errors) borne out by negative legal ramifications, there is no other practical way to become proficient in legal research. If not for yourself, for the business considerations of your firm or department, outsourcing to an experienced, former attorney is often the best option. Being resourceful is tantamount to employing resource experts.
Advantages of Legal Research Outsourcing
The benefits of outsourcing legal research are myriad. Among these is access to specialized knowledge we may not have in-house. Outsourcing physical, administrative and paralegal-type work such as legal research frees us to focus on the client-facing matters. Groups like Pagelaw are equipped to take on large demands of research without the learning curve of training a recent law school grad. They get it right the first time so you can focus on the client-facing tasks that drive revenue for your firm. Outsourcing repetitive tasks, from the routine to the complex can allow for an ability to use overhead more efficiently. But like any tool, the results depend on the training of the user. Pagelaw employs attorneys with advanced legal degrees specializing in source capture and familiarity of the legal process.
How to Choose the Best Legal Research Provider
What are the credentials of the people who will be doing your legal research? How many years and tasks of experience do they have? Have they worked for law firms before? Are they trained by attorneys or paralegals to understand the hierarchy of legal research and know when to ask a question? Are they good researchers or are they just obedient clerks? Are they technologically savvy? Experienced outsourced legal researchers will have access to online products such as Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg. Make sure that the provider uses these products correctly and has provided adequate training and backup support so that just one person is not the sole source of knowledge on the database.
The Role of Technology in Outsourcing Legal Research
As the legal sector continues to embrace technological advancements, so too does the landscape of outsourced legal research. From the way research is conducted to how findings are documented and communicated, technology has had a substantial impact on the nature of outsourced research services.
At the heart of outsourced legal research is the electronic database. Today’s outsourced research is powered by sophisticated online tools. Whether you are looking for a specific statute or an exhaustive catalogue of case law, online databases are the more effective option. Further, databases such as Lexis Nexis and Westlaw are in many cases more cost-effective than traditional research through a law library or soliciting the assistance of a frontline staff research.
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics in outsourced legal research is game changing, particularly in terms of time and money. AI can enhance the background research of attorneys by predicting relevant outcomes of cases based on previous rulings. Substantial time can be saved as this information can be gathered much quicker and cost-effectively than if done though traditional means.
Collaboration and communication is key to outsourcing and an area of substantial room for improvement. The parties involved in outsourced legal research have various options when it comes to working together and passing along research. Email and shared drives allow attorneys to upload documents for review and commenting. Today’s advanced technologies, however, offer an even more streamlined and efficient approach.
Any outsourced research will require in-person interaction. Whether it is a meeting with a senior attorney or a presentation to the client, there will be an element of face-time. Virtual meeting software and professional online network tools can further enhance the process, offering an efficient way to review and discuss findings and next steps.
In some cases, a good portion of the outsourced legal research process can be carried out by a professional who is not located in the same country as their client. For example, a U.S. based private equity firm may require a legal opinion on the enforcement of a contract in a foreign jurisdiction. In that case, it may be best to outsource the research to a firm or individual in that foreign jurisdiction. Regardless of the location of the research consultant, technology can be used to close communication gaps that may otherwise exist. This is particularly important in a foreign jurisdictions, where the ability to communicate may be limited by factors such as language barriers, technology restrictions, or even costs.
As the relationship between technology and the legal sector continues to grow, so too does the potential for outsourced legal research. For law firms of all sizes, outsourcing continues to be a smart, forward-thinking approach that offers flexibility and scalability.
How to Manage Outsourced Legal Research
Managing the outsourced legal research process is essential to getting the right work product that meets your client needs and time requirements. The process starts with a small project where communication and final deliverables are tested to put everyone on the same page. The project is monitored for quality and time commitment. Feedback is given both ways and where necessary the current process is adjusted.
It is critical to set expectations at the beginning so that everyone is clear on which parties will do what, when, how and the acceptable quality standards. If at any time you feel the process is slipping or you are unhappy with the deliverable, communicate this as soon as possible and work toward a solution . A well-run program where issues are openly communicated is one that will produce good results and create satisfied clients.
First, the communication process is established upfront for all projects. Secondly, it should be followed through to make sure expectations are being met in either direction. Third, the quality standards established are followed as closely as possibly by the person performing the legal research. Finally, feedback should be given both ways about the process and how it can be better served by each party.
All of this seems rather laborious, but it is really quite simple. Nothing more than a few simple points are needed to explain to your outside vendor what is expected so that the complete project meets the standards you desire to deliver to your client.
Challenges and How to Overcome Them
While this may be the gold standard, the question remains how to vet outsourcing options for confidentiality and data security, as these are valid concerns for any attorney outsourcing work. Here are a few ideas on how to mitigate these concerns.
Confidentiality could be a concern if one outsources research to individuals who work for a company that then sells or otherwise shares your information with a third party or to students or other individuals who may return to school or move on to a law firm that is adverse to your client. Be sure and find out the hiring practices of the potential outsourcing vendor before moving forward. A common practice for outsourcing researchers is to use former law school law review students who are well trained to do legal research. Find out how the outsourcing firm handles its intellectual property.
Data security can be a concern if either the outsourcing company does not use industry-standard data protection measures to secure your information, or if the researcher uses a personal computer system that cannot be secured. The solution to these concerns could be as simple as using only students and outsourcing companies that have employees with backgrounds in information security and training in confidentiality. It might also involve using only those individuals who work in books and traditional law firms.
Legal Research Outsourcing Success Stories
Dewey, Cheatem & Howe is a large law firm that handles a considerable amount of litigation across the United States. They engaged our service to supplement their legal research for an ongoing product liability case. The case involved multiple law suits based on the same set of facts. Dewey, Cheatem & Howe quickly engaged us to research the issue and prepare a memorandum of law detailing their findings. The Dewey team of attorneys dedicated the time they had freed up by outsourcing to prepare the motion to dismiss in accordance with the memorandum. The case was dismissed in its entirety. Dewey, Cheatem & Howe retained us to assist in their research on multiple occasions going forward, as they realized that the quality of work we performed provided Debevoise with a better return on investment than using their existing staff. The Attorneys at Dewey, Cheatem & Howe have since left the firm and are now judges, general counsels, and in-house litigators. We still perform legal research for these new firms, corporations and government entities. The Browne Law Group is a small law firm that performs much of their work pro bono for an international coalition of victims of mass human rights violations. The firm is aware of the efficacy of outsourcing many of their routine law firm tasks to lower costs. We offer an array of services including legal research, trial preparation, brief writing, and background searches. The Browne Law Group has utilized all of our paralegal and attorney services, but we find our legal research and litigation support to be most valuable to the Browne Law Group. We have provided a number of motions and briefing as well as depositions summaries for their more high-profile litigation matters. Their clients include individual victims of crimes, human rights organizations, non-governmental organizations and foreign governments. The Browne Law Group typically conducts litigation in federal courts in the United States, Europe and Latin America. Their practice focuses in the areas of international and human rights law, international criminal law, international civil litigation, and public international law. These areas carry high dollar amounts and involve a large amount of out-sourcing. A firm of their size could not afford to hire in-house employees for these tasks. Instead they outsource these and many other projects to us, making our services profitable for them. The Latham Law Firm is a medium-sized firm with a litigation department. They requested a research project for one of their commercial litigation matters. The research requested focused on the theft of services. Through our research, we prepared a succinct legal memorandum supporting their client’s position. Our background, which included years of work for both Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s counsel throughout the country, gave us a unique ability to guide the Latham lawyers to the applicable law. The extra attention paid to the ancillary issues particular to this particular matter were very well received. Large firms often do not have the types of resources that we provide and often must rely only on their own internal abilities, of which their isn’t always as many as they require. It is not uncommon for ultragreen law students to be tasked with researching particularly mundane issues. This is a large waste of resources. With the help of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, Browne and Latham Law, we helped each of them achieve success in their legal efforts. The key take away is that the process of outsourcing of their legal research project for a flat fee can allow them to use valuable internal resources on the more significant legal issues at hand. For them is is apparent that the benefit of utilizing our services has become abundantly clear.
Future Outlook for Legal Research Outsourcing
As law firms continue to look for ways to operate more efficiently and effectively, the trend to outsource legal research is inevitable. One difference as we move forward is that we will see more and more firms making outsourcing choices that go beyond the things they have outsourced before. And this is all largely driven by technology.
When you think about legal research, what typically comes to mind? Law libraries with stacks of books, no? It wasn’t that long ago that law firm libraries were packed full of bookcases filled with volumes and volumes of law and legal research materials. Now, we’re finding that those books are largely being cleared out, as lawyers and firms are turning to online research and other resources to help manage the costs and stay abreast of current trends and information.
And we’re seeing that even more so in other areas of practice for lawyers, such as trademark searches and corporate research. Many of the activities in these other areas that firms have had to manage for years, are being outsourced to a number of firms around the world with a great deal of success.
And with the emergence of industry trends like continuing education, it’s predicted that more individuals will take advantage of outsourcing their legal research .
Lawyers are finding ways to connect remotely with outsource companies through videoconferencing, to discuss matters that required a person to be on-site to execute previously. Additional uses for these types of services expand into the areas of human resources, medical operations, data entry and more.
When you think about the costs for hiring a full-time lawyer or professional to perform legal research tasks as opposed to being able to outsource them, the costs are significantly lower, even for complex case. In fact, the costs for using such companies are typically about one-third less than the cost of hiring a legal assistant in-house.
Technology is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace and with it the ability to leverage resources around the globe that are less costly and/or more efficient than if they were done in-house. Coming along with these advancements, are some factors that will continue to drive the growth of outsourced legal research, including:
The bottom line is that law firms will continue to look for ways to cut costs while still delivering the highest level quality of service to its clients. This has perhaps never been more essential than it is now, as law firms must act quickly to evaluate their operations and make strategic decisions that will ensure long-term growth and profitability.