LawScribe at LegalTech

I’ll soon be embarking on my annual pilgrimage to the Hilton Hotel, NYC, for this year’s LegalTech convention. Click here for the conference home page. LawScribe will be exhibiting at the conference (along with countless others!). I’ll be stationed at our booth, number 1302, level 2, for most of the three day event. If any readers wish to pop along to say hello, it will be great to meet in person.

One of the sessions that I’m intrigued about, (of course in addition to those dealing specifically with Legal Outsourcing, Global Electronic Discovery, and the entire Globalization of Legal Technology Track) is the “What is Twitter and How Do I Use It?” panel. As a voracious advocate of the power of blogging, I have dipped my toe in the twitter stream, although I must say, I’m yet to be convinced. That said I have an open mind and am looking forward to the session with interest.

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The Legal Process - Shared Services, Legal Outsourcing or Both

Back in the December issue of Shared Services News, I wrote a piece comparing and contrasting the merits of both the shared services and standard LPO models, as they pertain to the legal profession’s drive towards reducing costs and increasing efficiency. I examined two areas of higher value-added legal services, contract and document review, and the back-office support function of legal word-processing. Click here for the full article.

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MCLE Ethics of Outsourcing Presentation Available for Download

My most recent webinar, discussing the ethical implications associated with Offshore Legal Outsourcing, is now available for download via the LawScribe website by clicking on the registration link.

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South Africa's Time Zone Attracts Lovells in Real Estate Legal Outsourcing Deal

Thelawyer.com has an interesting piece covering Lovells recent decision to outsource real estate document production and word processing to South Africa.

Having previously outsourced a large scale document review to India, Lovells Managing Partner, David Harris is quoted as saying the time zone congruence between the firm's London office and South Africa was a major driving factor in the decision making process. Click here for the full article.

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Firms Closer to Setting Up in India and Leading Lawyer Blasts Hourly Rate

Two issues close to my heart received prominent press coverage over the last week.

The UK Law Society Gazette ran a piece discussing the Indian government's recently taken legislative step towards opening up the country’s legal market to foreign firms. I blogged about this back in October (click here), and now the Indian parliament has finally passed a bill allowing the formation of limited liability partnerships.

Originally introduced in January 2006, the bill itself will not liberalise the legal services market. However, assuming the necessary secondary regulations are passed, it will enable Indian law firms to form LLPs with no limit on partner numbers and allow foreign firms to form their own India LLPs. To read the full Gazette article click here.

Although many have been predicting the demise of the hourly rate for years, it was still refreshing to read Evan R. Chesler, the Presiding partner at Cravath, advocating the proposterous contradictions of this antiquated method of client billing. Click here for the Forbes piece in question. I wrote the first draft of my article, Time to Stop Time Recording three years ago now, and I do believe that even though the legal profession is notoriously slow in embracing innovation, that the times, they are, at least beginning to change.

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Register for MCLE Webinar: "Legal Outsourcing, The Ethical Implications"

On July 15, at 11:00am PST, I’m hosting an updated version of LawScribe’s MCLE Ethics accredited webinar: Legal Outsourcing, the Ethical Implications.

Only last week the ABA released their Summer issue of The International Lawyer. Offshore Legal Outsourcing was identified as a "hot topic". The International Lawyer comments that 6 Bar Association Opinions have concluded that,

“a lawyer could satisfy her ethical obligations and outsource work offshore."

However, the ABA publication goes on to address four general issues associated with legal outsourcing, namely;

1. duty of care in selection and supervision (which relates to the issue of unauthorized practice)
2. duty to maintain confidentiality
3. duty to avoid conflicts of interest
4. duty to inform the client that the delegating lawyer is outsourcing the work

All the above, and more, will be covered in my webinar.

To reserve your Webinar seat, click here.

The webinar provides attorneys with practical advice relating to the ethical implications of offshore legal outsourcing. The webinar materials have been updated to include a look at the ethical implications associated with a real large-scale document review project. The session also provides analysis of the July and August 2008 USPTO Notice re Foreign Filing Licenses and the ABA Ethics Opinion.

Attorneys from the following States will be entitled to 1 hour of MCLE Ethics credit - CA, NY, CO, FL, MO, TX, WA, WI. For those not able to attend, I will be posting the audio and slides on my blog and the LawScribe website, where the course will be available for self-study.

The following issues will be covered:

• Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law
• U.S. Attorney's Supervisory Responsibilities
• Duty to Act Competently
• Client Confidentiality
• Duty to Disclose
• Conflict of Interest Implications and Risks
• Billing Appropriately for Outsourced Legal Support
• USPTO Notice re Scope of Foreign Filing Licenses
• Large scale offshore document review case study

Joining me on the faculty for the webinar is Spyros James Lazaris, head of Zuber & Taillieu LLP’s patent and trademark prosecution department. Mr. Lazaris will be providing the large scale document review case study. I’ve detailed his biography below.

Mr. Lazaris practices intellectual property litigation and counseling, and is the head of Zuber & Taillieu LLP’s patent and trademark prosecution department. He has extensive experience in all phases of patent infringement litigation. He has successfully drafted and prosecuted patents for Fortune 500 companies in diverse areas of industry and technology, both here in the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Lazaris also focuses his practice on electronic discovery issues, and assists his patent litigation clients in managing discovery obligations in the complex world of electronically-maintained corporate data. Prior to joining Zuber & Taillieu LLP, Mr. Lazaris oversaw the patent prosecution practice of the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP, one of the 20 largest law firms in the world as ranked by The American Lawyer.

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