London-based Allen & Overy and Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie have both announced that they are outsourcing support services from their respective headquarters to jurisdictions in Asia.

A&O will relocate around half of its document production department to Chennai in southern India. The deal - negotiated with US firm Office Tiger - will deliver cost savings to A&O as graduate-level staff are available at far more competitive salaries in South Asia, said the firm's head of operational services in London, Stephen Chernikeeff.
Chernikeeff added that the London-based project would not directly affect its operations in Hong Kong and Singapore.

"It is possible we will integrate the work sent to London from our international offices with the work we will send to Chennai."
Partners at the firm's offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and other locations would also have the option of requesting that work remain in London, he said.

Meanwhile, Bakers is finalising the relocation of three separate IT functions to South-East Asia.

It has moved its network operations centre and document support centre to Manila, as well as transferring its global systems development centre to two locations in Manila and Jakarta.

Despite the moves by A&O and Bakers, law firms have generally been slower on the uptake of IT trends than other sectors of the legal and professional services industry. A spokesperson for one major Australian law firm said the issue was not on the agenda at all, as he couldn't see what part of its business could feasibly be outsourced.
The September announcements follow the lead of companies in other sectors - notably software development and contact centres - a number of which have moved operations to offshore locations. Organisations such as diversified manufacturing giant GE have gone as far as to outsource work to law firms in India, reportedly saving US$700,000 in its plastics division alone in 2002.