Outsourcing Ethics
Posted on October 26th, 2007 by Tim Eavenson | 1 Comment »Filed under: Uncategorized |
Ok, it’s Friday night, so this is going to be short.
The ABA notes that outsourcing legal jobs to India is causing all kinds of ethical issues. For starters, the legal education system in India is totally different, and key ethical considerations such as confidentiality are though of differently in India. Couple that with the dearth of oversight on either side of the ocean(s) and you see the problem.
Then there’s the fact that Indian lawyers may not actually be lawyers in the states. From the article:
[I]n a number of states here an Indian attorney is not considered a
lawyer for the purpose of applying legal ethics rules…Hence, the American lawyer in charge may be ethically required to adhere to support staff supervisory standards when overseeing the work of an Indian attorney.
The article goes on to say that the Indian legal outsourcing market has grown from $52 miillion in ’02 to upwards of $4 billion by 2015. That’s a lot of tajtunes.
Look for this on the next MPRE. We swear.
The latest ethical question about legal outsourcing concerns the US government’s ability to surveil all the contents of cross-border communications. A DC law firm filed suit against the administration seeking confirmation that subjecting client confidential documents and data to wiretap surveillance does not waive the client’s attorney-client privilege.
Carol Shepherd, Attorney
Arborlaw PLC
1:40 pm on May 28th, 2008.