Increased competition and the current economic scenario have made it necessary for attorneys to develop new strategies within the ethical boundaries of the profession. Enter Legasis. We provide a solution that reduces costs without compromising the quality of your work product by outsourcing the legal and non-legal support services.

Our services are within the ethical guidelines set forth by the American Bar Association. According to the ABA’s opinion, an attorney may outsource legal or non-legal support services provided the attorney remain ultimately responsible for rendering competent legal services to the client. An attorney who seeks to outsource work should make reasonable efforts to ensure that the conduct of the lawyers or non-lawyers to whom the tasks are outsourced is compatible with his or her own professional obligations as a lawyer and exercise “direct supervisory authority” over the outsourced provider.

Some of the Lawyer’s Obligations when Outsourcing Legal and Non-legal Support Services as described by American Bar Association and other bar associations of the states are as follows:

• Lawyer must determine competency of legal services of the vendor.
• Lawyer should be the direct supervisory authority and oversee the execution of the project adequately and appropriately.
• Lawyer may use electronic communication to close time and distance gap between lawyer and legal services of the vendor.
• Lawyer should make appropriate disclosures to client regarding the outsourcing of work.
• Lawyer must receive Client’s consent if confidential information is shared.
• Lawyer must do reference check of the Lawyer or non-lawyer providing the services as well as any non-lawyer intermediary involved, such as a placement agency or service provider.
• Lawyer must investigate the background of the Lawyer or non-lawyer providing the services as well as any non-lawyer intermediary involved, such as a placement agency or service provider.
• When dealing with an intermediary, a lawyer should inquire into its hiring practices to evaluate the quality and character of the employees likely to have access to client information.
• Lawyer may consider investigating the security of the provider’s premises, computer network, and perhaps even its recycling and refuse disposal procedures.
• Lawyer may pay personal visit to the intermediary’s facility, regardless of its location or the difficulty of travel, to get a firsthand sense of its operation and the professionalism of the lawyers and non-lawyers.
• Lawyer may consider interviewing principal lawyer of the service provider.
• Lawyer must do an assessment of system of legal education when engaging lawyers trained in a foreign country.
• Lawyer must consider legal landscape of the foreign country to where service is outsourced including laws personal property, including document seizure in judicial or administrative proceedings- notwithstanding claims of client confidentiality.
• Lawyer must do an assessment for risk of loss of client information or disruption of the project in the event that a dispute arises between the service provider and the lawyer and whether the courts provide prompt and effective remedies to avert prejudice to the client.
• The outsourcing lawyer should verify that the outside service provider does not also do work for adversaries of their clients on the same or substantially related matters (Conflict Check Procedures).
• Evaluation of core ethical principles
• Fees charged by the outsourcing lawyer must be reasonable.
• Lawyer must execute the confidentiality agreements outside service provider.