Your internship went to some guy in India

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American corporations have already outsourced most of our manufacturing jobs. Now, according to an article on cnn.com, pressure to outsource white collar jobs is increasing. This is scary. I’ve read that many hospitals are already outsourcing jobs like x-ray analysis and blood tests to companies in India. With the Internet, all a hospital has to do is e-mail the data, some workers on the other side of the world look at the data (for half the price of an American lab technician), and they send the report back so it’s ready the next day.

This could easily be done with legal research jobs. Because of Westlaw and Lexis, a big firm could easily assign memos to an outsourcing firm in India. The workers get online, pull the research, bust out a memo, and e-mail it back to the firm. All for less then half the price an American intern would be paid doing the same thing.

Of course, the problem with outsourcing is the quality of work would probably decrease. You would need to hire people in India who were educated in the American Legal system. Of course they could get a “top quality legal education with the convenience and power of the Internet,” at Concord University.

Damn good for nothing Michael Friedman Flat World.

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6 Comments

1. Jim on 06.11.2006 at 13:33 (Reply)

   High level legal work is not leaving the U.S. for India. There’s a reason why companies pay partners at top firms like Kirkland & Ellis $600+ per hour in legal fees.

   If I were a general counsel there is absolutely no way I would allow my legal work to be outsourced to another country. There’s just too many potential pitfalls, and something could get lost in translation.

   Also, it isn’t even certain that communications with third parties (e.g., non-U.S. lawyers) in India would be covered by the attorney-client privilege. The foreigners could also get in trouble for the unauthorized paractice of law, because they certainly are not members of the state bar of the entity for which they are performing legal work.

   The type of work most likely to be shipped to India or some other cheaper area of the world is low-margin work such as document review, basic wills or trusts, or possbily even some very low-level patent work.

2. The Frugal Law Student on 06.11.2006 at 15:39 (Reply)

   All good points jim. While I can see menial work being outsourced, I doubt complex legal jobs will be

3. The Frugal Law Student - » Book Review: A Whole New Mind on 10.02.2007 at 17:49

   […] brain thinking can be done by a computer or a worker in India. These include legal jobs. I’ve posted previously about the trend in firms outsourcing legal research jobs to India. So, don’t think just because […]

4. Book Review: A Whole New Mind | The Frugal Law Student on 19.05.2007 at 09:59

   […] brain thinking can be done by a computer or a worker in India. These include legal jobs. I’ve posted previously about the trend in firms outsourcing legal research jobs to India. So, don’t think just because […]

5. portland criminal defense lawyer on 04.08.2008 at 16:51 (Reply)

   While outsourcing in order to save money is important, having highly skilled labor locally can make a big difference.

6. Outsourcing on 22.09.2008 at 05:49 (Reply)

   If someone is looking for bright future then the time comes with open doors for them. Outsourcing jobs are available in abundant these days, providing new options as well as good opportunities to people.India has become the best location for outsourcing business because it is having talents which are not found in other countries. The new name in the outsourcing is BPO which stands for Business Process Outsourcing. Large companies have invested in outsourcing business and the growth rate of these companies has crossed the limit to high. Infrastructure of these businesses has changed and talents are willing to jump in this pool.

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