Legal outsourcing, particularly around document review, has been gradually building up a following.  The ABA’s [1] ethics opinion ([1] Ethics Opinion 08-451) publicized today should push those on the fence over as a powerful potential opponent endorsed the practice with some considerations.

In the past, the main concerns articulated were about potentially enabling the unauthorized practice of law.  Even if a company was able to outsource other IT functions (no worries about US citizenship, IP or privacy), the potential ethical issues around outsourcing legal processes stopped some discussions.

The ABA’s guidance includes provision for protecting confidentiality and privilege, reasonable upcharging, awareness of the particular jurisdiction’s requirements around unauthorized practice of law and due diligence on the personnel, site, technology and processes.

US based contract reviewers will be the first impacted, as the rates outside the US are substantially lower than in the US.

Thanks to law.com’s (New York Law Journal) [2] Anthony Lin for the heads up.