Looking into offshoring your legal services? With increasing pressure on firms to cut costs, improve services, and boost efficiency, you can expect to see more legal process outsourcing to the Philippines. Before you get started, here’s what you need to know…
Legal firms are “vulnerable” and need to change their operating model. That’s one of the main findings from a joint report1 by Thomson Reuters and the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law.
The report cites competition as a game changer, with alternative legal service providers (ALSP) proving to be formidable competitors in what Thomson Reuters says is now a buyer’s market.
That means thinking differently about how your business is structured. “Firms wanting to be vital and solvent are overhauling how they do business. Smart firms have already retooled,” writes Legal Marketing & Business Development Consultant Heather Suttie.
As you well know, there’s a lot of downward fee pressure that’s particularly challenging for smaller firms. Clients are looking to minimize costs wherever possible.2
Technology can certainly help. Artificial intelligence (AI), for instance, can be utilized to conduct document reviews that previously took junior lawyers many hours of work. But “new technology alone, no matter how transformative, is not enough to propel a business forward,”3 says Mark Johnson, chairman of Innosight, a strategic innovation consulting and investing company.
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Whether you’re operating in a law firm environment or as an alternative legal services provider, only those who provide truly client-centered services will survive into the next decade. “Legal buyers – not firms – are driving industry change,”4 says legal business consultant Mark A. Cohen.
How are they doing that? By being strategic about how they spend their money – separating legal practice from legal services, using data, and taking a broader perspective when it comes to utilizing people with process, project management, technological, business, and other necessary skills.
They also expect that kind of cost-effectiveness from their legal service providers. While clients don’t mind paying for high value legal advice, they don’t want to pay top dollar for the process work. “Low cost centers are a major factor in law firms wanting to win new clients and retain current ones,” Ms Suttie explains. “It has become a client expectation that a firm will have a low cost center – either on-shore or offshore – operating as a back office for commodity work.”
And that’s exactly what many firms have done, disaggregating services, taking components such as finance, IT, compliance and process-based legal tasks to offshore locations. Offshoring level services allows them to lower the cost of doing business, maintain profit margins in an increasingly competitive market, and deliver on clients’ expectations.
Why is the legal services industry suited to offshoring?
Fortunately for legal service providers, it’s an industry that’s particularly well suited to offshoring, because:
- Although the rapid pace of change has created a somewhat unique set of circumstances, legal process outsourcing (LPO) is not new as a concept. In fact the legal sector has been outsourcing tasks like document review and patent searches for over half a century. The practice is culturally accepted and supported by peak professional organizations.
- While technology isn’t the answer on its own, it can certainly facilitate implementation of a wide range of strategies, including offshoring. Most legal service providers are already utilizing legal sector software, document automation, and secure communication infrastructure that now make the physical location of certain teams largely irrelevant.
- Successful offshore providers necessarily prioritize cybersecurity and privacy measures as part of their business model, further minimizing your risk of data breach.
- A lot of the work can be done at any time – not just in business hours (although a good provider will give you access to people who can work your hours if you want).
Legal proess outsourcing to the Philippines just makes good business sense.
Frequently offshored legal services roles
Some of the more frequently offshored legal services roles include:
- Legal Transcriptionist
- Paralegal
- Legal Secretary
- Lawyer (Corporate, CPA, General Practitioner)
- Legal Assistant
- Liaison Officer.
Reference:
1 ALPMA. A Survival Guide for Legal Practice Managers
2 ALM Media Properties, LLC. Law Firm Mergers and the Economic Outlook for 2019. 17 Apr. 2019
3 Forbes. New Business Models- Not Technology- Will Transform the Legal Industry. 8 Nov. 2018
4 Forbes. New Business Models- Not Technology- Will Transform the Legal Industry. 8 Nov. 2018
Sample legal services employee profiles
At MicroSourcing, we’re experts in legal process outsourcing in the Philippines. We have more than 400 legal services specialists in our candidate database, and access to an additional 1,000+ across the country. Here are a few examples of real candidate profiles:

SKILLS
- Knowledgeable on Data Privacy Act of 2012 and ISO27001
- Advanced skills on Microsoft products such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Expertise in interpreting the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecards standards and best practices
- Strong attention to detail and analytical skills with a high degree of accuracy
- Independent and able to work under pressure
RECENT ROLES
- Quality Assurance Analyst
- Legal Transcriptionist
- Corporate Governance Scorecards Specialist

SKILLS
- Strong background on tax, corporate, labor and litigation work
- Contract drafting and review
- Negotiation of complex tax audit cases
- Customs and importation cases
- Perform research and write memoranda
- Help draft and edit the contract templates
RECENT ROLES
- Associate Attorney
- Legal Intern
MicroSourcing clients by industry
MicroSourcing has built a close affinity with the legal services industry. In fact, legal services is in our Top 5 Industry Sectors enjoying and mastering the benefits of offshoring. With over 320 offshore legal services professionals currently working for clients in Australia, the Americas and across Europe, we have significant experience in this Industry.

Interested in recruiting team(s) in the Philippines?
Since our inception in 2006, MicroSourcing has become one of the biggest providers of offshoring solutions in the Philippines. We can help you build a dedicated team in the Philippines, regardless of the roles and level of specialization you require. MicroSourcing is backed by our parent company, Probe CX, one of Australia’s fastest-growing offshoring solution and customer engagement firms. So, it’s safe to say we’re experts in outsourcing to the Philippines.
Call +1 888-731-0023 today or send us an email to discuss your company’s offshoring needs.





