Outsourcing Legal Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Author: Christina M. Jordan
• Pages: 2-3

he continuing COV ID-19 pandemic ha s

resulted in mil lions of people, including law-

yers, working from home. W ith this increa se in

remote work, law rms have prior itized outsourc-

ing various back-ofc e services tr aditionally per-

formed in-house to comply wit h COVID-19 bes t practices,

streamli ne work, and decrease costs.

Attorneys should be m indful of the legal issues th at may

arise. Global pa ndemic notwith standing, lawyers are stil l

bound by legal obligation s to protect their cli ents’ interests

and ful ll duciary duties.

Maximizing E ciency an d Budgets

Outsourcing genera lly refers to transferring tasks or f unc-

tions that were previously pe rformed in-house to an out-

side vendor. Examples of outsource d services may include

back-ofce jobs, such as ac counting, payroll, travel services ,

information tech nology and support, data secur ity, research,

and human resourc es. Business support service s (including

document proces sing and records management) and media

services (such as vide o- and teleconferencing) are also of ten

outsourced. Even legal t asks are being outsourced. Lawyer s

By Christina M. Jo rdan, Litigation N ews Associate Editor

Outsourcing Legal Services During

the COVID-19 Pandemic

are increasing ly relying on nonlawyers, such as paraleg als,

law clerks, technic al experts, and even computer-aide d tech-

nology, to handle legal task s at lower rates.

As corporate legal de partments a nd law rms seek to

run lean tea ms and keep costs down , outsourcing legal and

nonlegal serv ices once perform ed in-house can help ach ieve

these goals. Cor porate legal departments and law r ms can

improve prot margin s while mainta ining high-quality ser -

vices throug h outsourcing back-of ce services t hat might

otherwise t ie up a lawyer’s time. Outsourc ing may also

allow smaller law  rms and legal depa rtments to compete

with big technolog y companies. Split ting tasks be tween law

rms and vendors ca n benet clients and free up attorneys to

focus on providing qua lity legal advice.

During the C OVID-19 pandemi c, corporate legal dep art-

ments have been manag ing their own unplanned legal work

remotely and addressin g a variety of crisi s- and remote

work–related risks while c onsidering their company’s ability

to continue in an unc ertain economy. Many in- house coun-

sel are balanci ng a surge in work related to the COVID-19

pandemic and inc reased legal cost s. As the pandemic evolves,

in-house legal cou nsel may rely more heavily on—or more

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2 | S ECTION OF LITIGATION

Published in Litigation News Volume 46, Number 2, Wint er 2021. © 2021 by the Americ an Bar Association. Re produced with per mission. All rights res erved. This infor mation or any portio n thereof may not be c opied or disseminated in any

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