As the economy tanks, legal outsourcing to India increases

As the ailing U.S. economy prompts companies to cut costs, it also has spawned legal fee cutbacks. Clients pressure law firms they hire to trim fees. That means more routine work like legal research, due diligence and document review is being done in India at roughly half the cost as in the U.S., outsourcers say. Two recent articles in the Wall Street Journal can be accessed here, and here.

We aren’t sure what an experienced lawyer in India bills (the Wall Street Journal quotes $75 to $100 an hour) but we know Indian attorneys working for Pangea3 make closer to $5 to $6 dollars per hour. Alex Hania is in India this week on a fact-finding mission for The Posse List (his second trip) and he’s speaking with project managers, U.S. attorneys and several law firms. We hope to have a full report by next week.