Page 227 - Leaders in Legal Business and The 1000 Leaders and Influencers - Draft 1
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These differentiators drastically improve the quality of the work product and ultimately
spell the difference between a traditional LPO (legal process outsourcing — think labor
arbitrage) provider and a true Legal Managed Services provider (think expertise and
specialization). A LMS provider can tackle more sophisticated work, such as organizing and
managing the facts of your case using sophisticated case management tools, freeing up Biglaw
lawyers to do what they do best: win their cases and provide legal advice.
Technology Enablement
As discussed, a key force driving the need for high-quality Legal Managed Services
companies is the staggering volume of “Big Data,” and the burden and complexity of the high-
volume legal-work it creates every day. Whether it’s a document review in high-stakes litigation
or a review of corporate policies for the compliance department of a multinational, the stakes are
high, and a critical “hot” document could be anywhere. Technology created Big Data, and it has
finally has begun to provide solutions to the Big Data problem. However, Biglaw firms and
corporate legal departments rarely have fluency with the rapidly changing technology solutions
such as machine learning and data analytics. These are rare skill in the traditional legal field, but
are standard offerings for LMS companies.
Quality LMS providers possess this expertise and employ capital and human resources to
ensure they remain on the cutting edge. They are able to wield advanced technology with
efficiency and good judgment, and can typically consult traditional lawyers on the right tool for
the job at hand.
This again allows attorneys to maintain their primary focus on the traditional practice of
law.
Accordingly, firms are able to decrease the total cost of representation, while maintaining
the quality clients expect from their trusted outside counsel. With the same tools, but in the right
hands, the individual lawyer is able to maximize time spent on important legal issues.
Future Reforms in Legal Business Structures
Speaking of the practice of law, in the United States, legal practice is highly defended
and protected from “non-lawyer” interlopers by the ABA and state-bar associations. Non-
lawyers cannot share profits with lawyers and law firms cannot sell equity stakes to business
professionals. A non-lawyer engaging in or profiting from legal practice will be punished, and
hours of scholarly debate focus on when lawyers are or are not providing “legal advice.”
Originally intended to protect the objectivity of counsel from conflict, in the modern legal
practice, this prohibition may have become more harmful to the consumer of legal services than
good.
In the U.K. and some other jurisdictions, things are changing fast. By defining and
dividing out specific areas of practice, the new U.K. laws encourage more competition from
“non-lawyers.” Critically, the U.K. now allows for a new structure of law firm called alternative
business structures (“ABS”). Critically, ABSs allow non-lawyers to sit in professional,
management, and even ownership roles. In the past few years several large consulting and
professional services companies have obtained ABS status — including KPMG, BT, and
PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
213
spell the difference between a traditional LPO (legal process outsourcing — think labor
arbitrage) provider and a true Legal Managed Services provider (think expertise and
specialization). A LMS provider can tackle more sophisticated work, such as organizing and
managing the facts of your case using sophisticated case management tools, freeing up Biglaw
lawyers to do what they do best: win their cases and provide legal advice.
Technology Enablement
As discussed, a key force driving the need for high-quality Legal Managed Services
companies is the staggering volume of “Big Data,” and the burden and complexity of the high-
volume legal-work it creates every day. Whether it’s a document review in high-stakes litigation
or a review of corporate policies for the compliance department of a multinational, the stakes are
high, and a critical “hot” document could be anywhere. Technology created Big Data, and it has
finally has begun to provide solutions to the Big Data problem. However, Biglaw firms and
corporate legal departments rarely have fluency with the rapidly changing technology solutions
such as machine learning and data analytics. These are rare skill in the traditional legal field, but
are standard offerings for LMS companies.
Quality LMS providers possess this expertise and employ capital and human resources to
ensure they remain on the cutting edge. They are able to wield advanced technology with
efficiency and good judgment, and can typically consult traditional lawyers on the right tool for
the job at hand.
This again allows attorneys to maintain their primary focus on the traditional practice of
law.
Accordingly, firms are able to decrease the total cost of representation, while maintaining
the quality clients expect from their trusted outside counsel. With the same tools, but in the right
hands, the individual lawyer is able to maximize time spent on important legal issues.
Future Reforms in Legal Business Structures
Speaking of the practice of law, in the United States, legal practice is highly defended
and protected from “non-lawyer” interlopers by the ABA and state-bar associations. Non-
lawyers cannot share profits with lawyers and law firms cannot sell equity stakes to business
professionals. A non-lawyer engaging in or profiting from legal practice will be punished, and
hours of scholarly debate focus on when lawyers are or are not providing “legal advice.”
Originally intended to protect the objectivity of counsel from conflict, in the modern legal
practice, this prohibition may have become more harmful to the consumer of legal services than
good.
In the U.K. and some other jurisdictions, things are changing fast. By defining and
dividing out specific areas of practice, the new U.K. laws encourage more competition from
“non-lawyers.” Critically, the U.K. now allows for a new structure of law firm called alternative
business structures (“ABS”). Critically, ABSs allow non-lawyers to sit in professional,
management, and even ownership roles. In the past few years several large consulting and
professional services companies have obtained ABS status — including KPMG, BT, and
PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
213
