Demand for Legal Services Outsourcing Increasing as Corporate Attorneys Seek to Make Best use of Resources

ST HELIER, Jersey, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Demand for Legal Services Outsourcing (LSO) is increasing, driven by cost savings and by in-house legal departments seeking to make the best use of their resources. But many companies say they need help in identifying and separating out the legal work that can best be outsourced.

These are some of the key results announced today by leading LSO provider CPA Global, following a poll at the recent Law Department Forum, held in London by the Practical Law Company.

More than 80 delegates attended a discussion led by Leah Cooper, CPA Global's Director of Legal Services Outsourcing, on the evolution of LSO. During the session, Cooper polled the delegates, mostly in-house counsel, on their business priorities, including ways for legal departments to create value, and current attitudes towards outsourcing legal work to LSO providers.

The poll revealed that:

- Adding more strategic value to their business was the key priority for more than half of delegates (52%), with 29% pointing to increased efficiency and 15% to cost savings.

- Around 20% of delegates were already outsourcing legal services, while a further 53% said they were open to outsourcing in the future.

- However, an overwhelming majority of 93% said they would implement LSO if it could deliver savings of GBP10 million - savings that CPA Global has quickly made a reality for several of its international clients.

- Nearly half of delegates (47%) believed that making the best use of their internal legal resources was the greatest benefit of using an LSO provider, while 27% cited cost savings and 22% pointed to the ability to scale up for unpredicted large projects.

- 59% considered the main challenge of integrating an LSO provider into their organisation to be identifying and assigning appropriate work, while 29% said it was managing the relationship.

Commenting on the poll, Cooper said: "The findings show that in-house counsel are looking for solutions that enable them to focus on more strategic matters, thereby adding greater value to their organisations and optimising how efficiently they can deliver legal services. Many are already recognising that legal services outsourcing can help them achieve this.

"An effective LSO engagement is designed to handle the lower-level work so that general counsel can get back to doing the job they are trained for - advising on legal matters. LSO should not create more work for the client, but rather integrate as seamlessly as possible with the team and deliver value from day one."

Cooper added that the poll highlighted some of the challenges of converting the high level of interest in LSO into actual engagement. "It's not the why, but the how," she said. "Some companies are not always sure how to go about separating out the work between the in-house team, external counsel and LSO provider. We've helped many clients do exactly that to ensure that the right work goes to the right people, optimising both efficiencies and cost. We work as an extension of the in-house legal team and experience has shown that we quickly integrate into the team."

About CPA Global

CPA Global is the world's leading and longest established legal services outsourcing provider, with a heritage stretching back more than 40 years. Founded in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1969, originally to handle patent renewals, CPA Global today employs more than 1,500 people, supporting many of the world's best known corporations and law firms with a broad range of legal and intellectual property (IP) management services, including document review, transaction support, contract solutions, legal research, and IP portfolio management.

With offices across Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific, CPA Global serves clients' needs in over 100 countries, helping them to manage risk, cost and capacity, and realize greater value for their businesses and their IP assets. CPA Global's diverse client list ranges from major global corporations, headquartered in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, to small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation start-ups; and from top international law firms to national and regional law and IP firms. Clients include leading Fortune 500 and FTSE companies, and two-thirds of the Global Lawyer 100.

CPA Global is a leading player in the fast growing legal services outsourcing (LSO) sector, providing high quality and cost-efficient legal support services through delivery centers in the US and India.

As the world's top IP management specialist, CPA Global helps its clients manage their valuable IP Rights, such as patents, designs and trademarks, ensuring that IP portfolios are protected, maintained and regularly reviewed in order to maximize value. Services include search, filing and renewals for patents and trademarks; trademark watching; portfolio valuation and optimization; as well as IP management software.

For further information visit: http://www.cpaglobal.com or contact:

Media Contacts

United Kingdom: Steve Clark +44(0)20-7549-5504, sclark@cpaglobal.com

Victoria Knowles +44(0)20-7549-4585, vknowles@cpaglobal.com

United States: Julie Mandell +1(571)227-7025, jmandell@cpaglobal.com

SOURCE CPA Global