Increased Legal Work in Downturn

Rohan Dalal, Managing Director, India, Mindcrest, Inc.

Being in the offshore legal services industry, we have noticed that the economic events of the past 18 months have brought about an increased demand for legal work. However, while the work in totality has increased, legal budgets of companies have either remained the same or shrunk. Alongside, law firms are also undergoing a fundamental change in the way that services are being performed. Gone are the days when legal work was billed by the hour and there was not much control on budget. Nowadays, companies are demanding alternative billing arrangements, which has put pressure on law firms to bring about newer and more innovative approaches as to how work is to be done. For example, companies that used to work through projects are now stepping back to take a more strategic view of how they want to approach their legal expenses. In many cases, they are looking at LPO organisations to provide a more holistic service rather than just services in a specific area. Therefore, they are entering into 'preferred provider' relationships.

At our company we are creating a model wherein our departments have been structured geographically and functionally. This can help our clients derive a common benefit by engaging with us over several types of legal work over a sustained period, thus making things more strategic than project-based.

In terms of HR, the downturn has proved to have a positive impact for us. The most important thing now is to ensure skill grooming across organisational verticals so that employees can address client requirements in an optimum manner.

Mindcrest's in-house training programme is called Mindcrest University which ensures that employees are skilled on new practices and areas in the field of law as soon as they evolve, taking them to the next level.