| US
lawyers seem to finally accept the idea of fellow
legal beagles on the other side of the world fighting
on their side though not side by side. Has legal
outsourcing to India finally gained a foothold
in the US legal system? Attorneys in Grand Forks
now turn to lawyers in Bangalore, Delhi, and Chennai
for help in drafting legal briefs and research
work for cases to be fought in American courts.
Experts in the Grand Forks area
believe that the Indian lawyers have an edge over
their Asian or African counterparts, just as their
call center brothers in outsourced services lord
it over in that sector. Rocky Dhir, among the
first to recognize and tap India’s potential
in legal outsourcing points out,
"This is because Indian
lawyers are uniquely positioned to assist the
US legal market."
Fresh from the success of his
outsourced legal services, Dhir is headed for
Bangalore and Chennai to seek out a fresh supply
of advocates for his company, Atlas Legal Research.
Other law firm heads have followed suit and have
taken to combing various Indian cities to recruit
lawyers.
Criminal defense specialist and
former Assistant United States Attorney Jay Ethington
assures,
"There is no difference between Indian and
American advocates. The quality of work is the
same,"
He has expressed satisfaction
over the quality of research and paperwork turned
in by Indian advocates for about half-a-dozen
cases.
The battles fought by these Indian
lawyers do not take place in US courts but are
set in the form of the research work, case analyses,
and legal brief drafting for those in the thick
of the American legal battlefield. This has resulted
in saving time, energy, and money for American
lawyers.
Despite initial reluctance to
hire Indian lawyers for research work, Ethington
has since found himself a convert and is actually
a strong advocate of legal outsourcing to India,
"I am very much impressed
by the work done by Indian lawyers to help fight
cases in US courts.”
Larry Newman, author of Texas
Corporation Law and corporate transaction specialist,
is similarly impressed by the quality of work
done by Indian lawyers. He cites them as being
instrumental to getting favorable results in even
the complex cases. He is partial to legal outsourcing
to India for the cost efficiency, fast response,
and good work quality – all of which explain
why the practice is fast catching up.
"India, like the US, has
a common law jurisdiction." Dhir pointed
out this advantage as well: the fact that the
entire legal system, from studies to debate to
court orders, is conducted in English.
Holding up his fast increasing
list of clients as example, Dhir says that it
is primarily because of the “fractional
cost” at which they do service as compared
to American counterparts. Salaries for top law
graduates in India stand at one-tenth of US lawyers’.
Another advantage Dhir cited
is the time difference between India and the US,
"While our legal research associate are busy
preparing the case, our rivals - US lawyers, sleep.
As such our company works 24 hours."
Experts believe that legal outsourcing
just might be the key to considerably lowering
cost of court cases. This also presents an advantage
for the Indian companies doing business in the
US: Infosys, Tata, Wipro.
"With the help of lawyers
from India, these companies can very well compete
with their rivals in courts here and that too
at a fractional cost."
V.
Rishi Kumar
Hyderabad , Sept. 13
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