Thoughts on different goals of outsourcing, offshoring and unbundling by legal departments

A report from BNA, HR Department Benchmarks and Analysis 2008, pronounced that “Outsourcing of HR functions has become a widespread practice. Three out of four employers have outsourced one or more HR activities. The single most important motivation for HR outsourcing is access to greater expertise, although for the largest organizations, cost savings is the most important factor.”

General counsel primarily outsource work to law firms for expertise; they offshore work generally for cost savings; and they unbundle services for the combination of cost, expertise, and efficiency (See my post of April 11, 2009: services of law firms that can be separated out with 12 references and one metapost.). Different goals for each technique, I propose.