India faces some competition to hold onto its status as the world centre for legal process outsourcing (LPO), with South Africa quickly emerging as an alternative LPO hub.
Lovells is one of a handful of law firms piloting the offshoring of a portion of low-end legal work.
According to Lovells' chief operating officer Nick Cray, the firm has been sending Cape Town-based company Exigent administrative work from its real estate and finance practices since October 2008."We did considerable research and visited a number of providers before deciding that Exigent was the best partner. The pilot is helping us to confirm the quality of service and address the processes before deciding whether to extend the service to a wider user base," he said.
In addition to Lovells, several Magic Circle firms, including Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Linklaters ,are rumoured to be actively looking at launching their own South African LPO pilot program.
South Africa has long been considered an ideal location for LPO. Not only does it boast a strong law school system producing graduates capable of producing good work, but also overhead costs, wages and charge-out rates, are competitive with other LPO centres. In addition, South Africa is, so far, free from the 'low-cost, low-quality, mass produced' stigma that has been attached to other LPO destinations - particularly India.
And with concerns about the ethical soundness of Indian LPO refusing to go away, South Africa may well be on its way to becoming a significant LPO hub. Watch this space....