1. Does legal outsourcing to India lead to a compromise in quality?
No. The offshored legal services we provide in India compare favorably with much of the what attorneys produce at top-tier law firms in the West. It is far beyond typical "legal process outsourcing" or "LPO" work. Our legal services outsourcing is managed on-site by a respected American law firm, and supervised by a team of U.S.-licensed attorneys who have been practicing at the top of their fields. This gives our Western client both quality assurance and accountability. Moreover, when corporations, law firms, and individuals outsource legal services to SDD Global, the work is done by top law graduates and experienced lawyers and/or former law professors from some of the best legal outsourcing companies, law firms and law schools in India. In fact, we hire only one out of every 900 job applicants. And again, those recruits in turn are trained and supervised by respected Western attorneys. Because of the close involvement of Western attorneys in our legal outsourcing model, our clients need not be concerned that their contact will be limited to foreign employees on the other end of the earth.
2. What kind of cost savings can be expected by outsourcing legal
services to India?
Outsourcing legal work to India, can result in savings of up to 50% or more. As The New York Times reported: “The reason for the shift [to outsourcing legal work] echoes the reason companies are sending other work abroad: they save substantial amounts of money. Some companies say they can reduce certain legal costs by as much as 50 percent, and receive work that rivals what they can obtain in the United States. According to Dennis Archer, the President of the American Bar Association, ‘The need to cut costs reaches across many departments, so it should be no surprise that it goes to the legal department as well.’”
The financial advantages of legal outsourcing to India that can accrue to the clients of SDD Global are seen not only in the well-known differences between salaries and costs of living among the workforces of the U.S. and India, but also in the price of office space, which is ultimately paid for by a law firm’s clients. Many traditional law firms locate virtually all of their personnel in relatively expensive offices in the largest cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. This tradition has led to a situation in which most of each dollar or pound that these firms charge their clients pays for office rent. In Mysore, India, the employees of SDD Global work in state-of-the-art facilities at 1/43rd the cost of comparable space in major U.S. cities (and at far lower cost than Indian cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi/Gurgaon). This is a major part of the way we maintain our assurance to clients that they are paying for legal services, not real estate.
3. What is the relationship between the law firm, SmithDehn LLP, and SDD Global Solutions? Do SDD Global attorneys practice law or provide legal advice?
SDD Global is a separate Indian company, which provides services to many law firms. Although attorneys at SDD Global's parent law firm, SmithDehn LLP, play an important role in the management, supervision, and training at SDD Global, the Indian company is not a captive of any one law firm. In addition to providing services to multiple law firms, SDD Global does work for many corporate and other clients who are not clients of SmithDehn LLP. Although SDD Global provides many of the same services of a global law firm, often with both higher quality and lower rates, SDD Global is not a law firm. SDD Global does not "practice law" or provide legal advice. However, in situations where clients need legal advice, or representation in court, or similar services that only a U.S.-licensed attorney can provide, such clients can obtain those services either from SmithDehn or other law firms working with SDD Global. Click here to read the opinions of various U.S. ethics panels on legal outsourcing. These include American Bar Association Ethics Opinion 08-451, which states that (a) "U.S. lawyers are free to outsource legal work, including to lawyers or non-lawyers outside the country, if they adhere to [various] ethics rules," (b) legal outsourcing is "a salutary trend in a global economy," and (c) "outsourcing can reduce client costs and enable small firms to provide labor intensive services such as large, discovery intense litigation, even though the firms might not maintain sufficient ongoing staff to handle the work."
4. In what locations does SDD Global provide legal outsourcing services?
We provide off-shored legal services for companies and law firms in nearly all states and major cities in the United States, as well as in major cities of the United Kingdom and Canada. See the presentations listed below for more information on our work in Los Angeles, California; Manhattan, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Delaware City, Delaware; Wilmington, Delaware; Houston, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Texas; Dallas, Texas; San Diego, California; San Jose, California; Detroit, Michigan; San Francisco, California; Miami, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Fort Worth, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; El Paso, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; Nashville, Tennessee; Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia); Las Vegas, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Louisville, Kentucky; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tucson, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kansas City, Missouri; Fresno, California; Sacramento, California; Long Beach, California; Asheville, North Carolina; West Hollywood, California; Boulder, Colorado; London, England; Bristol, England; Manchester, England; Norwich, England; Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario; and Halifax, Nova Scotia:
Legal Outsourcing in California Helps Hollywood Win Cases
New York Takes Lead in Legal Process Outsourcing
Legal Services Outsourcing Makes a Difference in Illinois
Delaware Companies Take Advantage of Legal Outsourcing
Legal Process Outsourcing Makes a Mark in Texas
Michigan Economy Aided by Legal Services Outsourcing
Florida Law Firms Take Advantage of Legal Process Outsourcing
Ohio Companies Stay Afloat by Off-Shoring Legal Work
Nevada Legal Work Less Costly, Due to Legal Outsourcing
Legal Process Outsourcing Helps Oregon Companies
Kentucky Benefits from Legal Services Outsourcing
Legal Process Outsourcing Has Positive Impact in Missouri
Colorado Law Firms and Companies Aided by Legal Outsourcing
Legal Services Outsourcing Makes a Difference in Maryland
Washington State Takes Advantage of Legal Outsourcing
Legal Process Outsourcing Takes Hold in Washington D.C.
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