Slaughters looks at outsourcing options after client request

Slaughter and May is considering outsourcing some legal work for a client in a bid to reduce costs.

The magic circle firm is in the early stages of discussions with a legal process outsourcer about outsourcing due diligence and document review work relating to a specific transaction. The move comes in response to a request from the client to look at options to reduce legal spend.

Slaughters said that the case was a one-off and that it was not planning to offer outsourcing generally; however, the firm confirmed that it would be open to outsourcing in individual circumstances if requested by a client.

Slaughters has traditionally outsourced lower-end legal work on transactions to a host of other firms to reduce costs, and this practice will continue.

One Slaughters partner commented: "One client wanted to explore outsourcing for a piece of work on a particular transaction. This is not something we are offering to clients generally, but if clients want to talk to us about managing their transactions in different ways, then we are happy to do that. We are sensitive to client cost issues in this current environment; however, this is not Slaughter and May moving into outsourcing. There is no seismic shift in our legal practice."

Other leading UK firms to outsource legal work include Clifford Chance, which has an offshore centre in India, while Pinsent Masons has a litigation support service in co-operation with legal processing outsourcing provider Exigent. The work is carried out by qualified lawyers in Exigent's outsourcing centre in Cape Town.

Slaughter and May on the Legal Week Wiki