I tend to agree with Edward that law firms will be slow to outsource jobs/restructure their businesses – for better or worse the legal profession is slow to alter the way its does anything. Companies in other business areas are quick to lay-off employees during a market downturn. It hardly makes a splash in the news when an investment bank or hospital decides to lay-off a few hundred employees, but when a law firm decides to lay-off a few dozen employees it comes as a more of a shock (as were the recent Cadwalader layoffs).

I think that if legal services are going to be outsourced in any large amount it will come not from the giant law firms, but from smaller firms trying to save money to compete and from American corporations looking to shave costs in their legal departments. It seems more likely that corporations would outsource their legal needs to Indian lawyers (a practice that can be kept relatively quiet if they choose), than would a firm who must protect their reputation as a reliable source of guidance to remain competitive – not to say that the legal services provided in India would be of a lower quality, but if a firm is going to bill at a ridiculous level, image is everything.

-- GideonHart - 26 Jan 2008