North American law firms outsourcing legal research
E-discovery laws in Canada and the U.S. are fueling a demand for legal services from IT outsourcers. Nestor Arellano reports from the Philippines.
They can’t practice on North American soil, but their work often forms the basis American and Canadian lawyers build their legal arguments on.
In recent years, Filipino lawyers retained by outsourced IT services firms in Manila have built a steadily growing online legal process and research market. Legal process and research is among the new tech services being pushed by the Philippine government, which last year saw combined outsourced IT services revenues soar to $7 billion.
Electronic discovery legislation in Canada and the U.S. is largely fueling the demand for outsourced legal work, according to Jay Manahan, director for business development of Sencor, a Philippine online research and analysis research firm headquartered in Makati City, the business district of the country.
“Twenty-five years ago, we were purely a data entry shop. E-discovery legislations in the U.S. and Canada, which began surfacing in 2005 and 2006, encouraged us to venture into attorney-level work,” said Manahan.
The company now employs more than 100 full-time lawyers. That number can swell up to 400 during “peak seasons” according to Manahan who looks more like a fresh college graduate than a business executive in his mid-thirties.
“Essentially, we’re a big law firm, but our lawyers don’t appear in the Philippine courts,” Manahan said.
