Law Department Management Blog
An article in Bus. Law Today, Vol. 17, Nov./Dec. 2007 at 61, differentiates offshoring to India from offshoring to Israel. The author, Ken Wollins of Green Point Legal Services, points out some disadvantages of Indian providers: promising what law departments want to hear because of cultural tendencies to avoid confrontation, a British style of speaking and writing, and capabilities more suited for simpler project-oriented assignments.
Not surprisingly, Wollins commends Israel with its “thousands of lawyers who have been raised and educated, admitted to the bar, and practiced law in the United States.” According to him, “a general rule of thumb is that cost savings of about 30 to 40% can be achieved through Israel and about 50 to 60% in Asia.”
The article concludes by saying that “even taking into account the aggressive forecasts, the total amount of legal work sent overseas will remain below 2 percent of [the $200 billion legal industry in the United States], and a considerable portion of that will be attributable to lower-skilled work that is not handled by lawyers.”