Moving Forward with Outsourcing in the New Legal Model

In the traditional model of outsourcing, a firm took some internal duties such as copying, mail and facsimile, selected a vendor to manage those services on-site, signed a three- to five-year contract and then charged back to the client for these services under the traditional cost recovery model with pricing that bore little or no connection to the costs the firm was paying for these services. While many firms still employ this model, the end of this model is in sight. With the support services model shifting from a copy/fax to a print/scan/lit support basis and with firms reluctant to charge clients any new costs due to the increased scrutiny under which they operate, firms are faced with a declining revenue stream in this area, which ultimately will make this model obsolete.

There is no successful option that says one should beat a dead horse; the best option is to move forward. In terms of outsourcing, how do firms use and structure outsourcing most effectively under the new legal model and what are the opportunities that are available? In order to address that question adequately, here are four baseline assumptions about the successful traits all competitive and profitable law firms are now required to possess under the new legal model:

1. Flexibility;
2. Transparency in the recovery of costs;
3. Firm-wide strategies to keep costs as competitive as possible;
4. Ability to leverage technology and alternative methodologies to drive down costs.

Flexibility