CHICAGO | SAN FRANCISCO | WASHINGTON DC | NEW YORK | MUMBAI | PUNE
The LPO Appeal
The Times of India
July 2008
Gone are the days when budding lawyers would have to work for beggarly sums trying to gain adequate’ experience’ to start their own practice. And perhaps more, to be able to earn enough by way of their favoured vocation to be able to buy a house of their own in a metro in the country. Anahita Asrani, a law graduate informs, “When I studied law I knew the road ahead was going to be tough. But I truly wanted to understand the Indian legal system and felt that it would give me a edge in the rat race to make it to the top. Though after five years of toiling to and fro from the local courts and the law firms where I work, I am exhausted”. Anahita’s friend who pursued a banking career with a simple commerce graduation and those who have found employment in a nationalized bank at the clerical level, too are financially better off than her. Such is the piteous state of budding lawyers in the country.
The booming LPO industry
Legal eagles have new skies to soar…the legal process outsourcing has made its way into the Indian ‘outsourcing’ industry. Informs Lavina Taurro, legal manager with Mindcrest, a Pune-based LPO, “After completion of my graduation in law from the Government Law College, Mumbai, I was left with the same old options of years of frustrating work in law firms in the city. That is when this offer to work in a new legal process outsourcing company came my way. I was happy and took it up. The journey so far has been more than fulfilling. Today, I lead a team, which analyses varied legal procedures and document for clients from world over”.
LPO v/s other outsourcing companies
The edge that the legal segment has over other outsourcing ones is its unique niche, which ensures good revenues. The Indian law has its origin in the British Common Law like many other countries from across the globe attribute their legal system to it, therefore the technicalities and certain nuances of implementation of the law may vary from one nation to the other, concept wise the law is the same in all of these countries. Explains Lavina, “Laws that govern say, bankruptcy, will remain the same world over, therefore when I was acquainting myself with US Laws it was not at all that difficult. Today, though the only hindrance that I find in my secure LPO career is that if I decide to re-join the India legal system, I would have to re-learn the nuances. But I do not see myself doing that anytime now.”
Interesting business mix
Informs Rohan Dalal, MD, Mindcrest, “Our clients comprise of Fortune 500 companies and top law firms from the US, UK and Canada. One needs to understand that an LPO works in association with leading law firms from world over and are in no way in competition with them”. Most of the work in LPOs in India, is in the form of contract review, documentation support or legal research. For instance if a client is a defendant in a large law suit in the US or UK, a LPO could perhaps be asked to study the documents that the defendant has to exchange some documents with the plaintiff or vice versa. They are also known to provide legal content for websites. This kind of a business mix allows the budding legal expert with a wide canvas to experiment and try his or her hand at various specialties and that too at a global level. “It’s like working on a global platform, while staying back in India amidst our near and dear ones,” gushes Ashvini Pai, who graduated from V M Salgaokar Law College in Goa and joined a LPO.
Why join LPOs?
Most LPOs siphon off their funds from flourishing headquarters based in the US, UK or Canada and therefore have immense wealth as compared to the poor Indian law firms. As a result the former can afford to pay their employees well and place them in internationally acclaimed work conditions. For most beginners, this is a dream-come-true situation. And in most cases they have a five-day flexible work hours facility too. In addition to a home pick-up and drop facility too. “Since the business is growing we can afford to do the best for our employees,” informs, Arnab Banerji, general manager, HR with Mindcrest.
Indian LPOs offer brilliant career opportunities for budding lawyers. At a young age they get an opportunity to interact with global clients and provide creative solutions on a great scale.
