Legal Tech, India, technology and contract attorneys

If you are in NYC or can get there this week, we urge all to attend.  And we don’t mean the $1,000+ conference part.  We mean the exhibit hall where you can see the vendors: ESI companies, staffing agencies … and Indian LPOs.  It will be the largest number of vendors Legal Tech has had to date.  And it’s free (details at the end of this post).

As we have reported, U.S. contract attorneys are caught in a vicious vice: India LPOs and technology.  Cost pressure is pushing CEOs, and giving the legal outsourcing industry a leg up. Given that outsourcing is
already proven in IT and customer service, more and more law firms and staffing agencies are saying “Ok, we haven’t before but let’s look at India”.  We’ve read the reports from ValueNotes (the largest independent
India market research firm), Gardner, and Forrester.  We’ve spoken with a wide range of U.S. attorney project managers in India during our two trips there.

And not just LPOs.  Companies across the board are under pressure to pare costs, and looking to companies in India to take on an array of jobs.  We’ve seen a huge uptick in requests for market research, product design, engineering services, content development, etc.

Doc review is picking up but not in the onshore centers.  In India.  A large percentage of the subprime/credit crisis work and bankruptcy work we expected in DC and NYC is already in India.

And on top of this increasing shift offshore is the new technology.  As we have reported (and as scores of Posse List members have reported to us) doc reviews are getting shorter.  Why?  The technology.  As we have
reported (and one of our supreme sources has been Ralph Losey and his e-Discovery Team site)  that the combination of court rulings, new rules, and state-of-the-art development in ESI technology has led to fuller, faster presceening which reduces the universe of documents and leads to fuller, faster review and production — which means shorter projects.

So you should take the time, if you can, to see and meet up front the companies changing this market.  And bring your resume.  You never know.

To get into the exhibit hall for free:

1.  Go to:  http://tinyurl.com/7dvmdq

2.  Click on “Register” in the middle of the page

3.  You will come to a page that has the registration options as follows:

MasterPass ($1,195.00)
MasterPass Discounted for Association Members* ($1,025.00)
Single Day: Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (price is per day) ($695.00)
Single Day: Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (price is per day) Discounted for
Association Members* ($625.00)
Exhibits, Keynotes, General Sessions, Emerging Technologies & Supersessions ($0.00)
Law Firm Pass (for up to 10 people from your firm) ($3,995.00)
Law Firm Pass (11 – 25 people from your firm) ($4,995.00)
Law Firm Pass (26+ people from your firm) ($6,995.00)

Register for the Exhibits, Keynotes option (bolded above) and follow through the registration process.

We have attached an Excel spreadsheet with a list of all exhibitors and links to their web sites which you can access by clicking here.