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January 25, 2008
Legal Outsourcing -- Several Ethical Dilemmas
Where is the American Bar Association to nip legal outsourcing to India, such as this, in the bud? As of May, 2007, an ABA spokesman told LAW.com that no statement would be issued on the topic. [See that article's penultimate paragraph.]
Certainly, the ethics opinions issued by the Bars of several major markets are an indication that this is a hot-potato topic which the ABA may not wish to touch. Those Bar Committees have ruled that outsourcing legal work to attorneys unlicensed in any American state does not constitute the unauthorized practice of law. The New York City Bar's Ethics Opinion is a shambles -- a discussion led by its favorable conclusion.
Is "strict lawyer oversight" and "client agreement after disclosure" enough to dispel the ethical problems?
Because the Indian legal education system is different and the duty of confidentiality to clients is narrower than in the United States, it is dangerous to assume an Indian lawyer's understanding of applicable professional standards is the same as his or her American counterpart's, according to the Professional Lawyer (PDF), an ABA Center for Professional Responsibility publication.
Aside from the ethical problems to the client, what about the lowest paid lawyer laborer, upon whose dues the ABA also feeds? Mr. Neukom is quick to support lawyers in Pakistan. Where is his rally for the lowest wage lawyer-laborer in the American market?
This is not simply a business issue. Why is it that Americans apparently have no desire to support their own? Who are the partners willing to forego some of their earnings so that more of their own people can be profitably employed? Are there any?
ABA's tacit agreement by silence to legal outsourcing is an ethical dilemma in itself.
UPDATE (February 8, 2008): HSBC to outsource its "UK volume legal work" to Malaysia.
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