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LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT Time to get on board The legal process outsourcing ship has sailed and Canadian law firms need to make sure they're not left behind by clients seeking more cost-effective legal services. BY KEVIN MARRON about the idea of sending legal work overseas. A senior partner at Norton Rose OR LLP and former managing partner in the Toronto office of Ogilvy Renault LLP, Fleming is well aware of the pressure from corporate clients to cut the cost of legal services and of T here's a boat leaving for India and Andrew Fleming knows he has to get on board, even though he feels a little queasy the value of legal process outsourcing (LPO) as a way of delivering more effi- cient services. Nevertheless, when it comes to actually advising clients that an off- shore outsourcing outfit can do some legal tasks more cost-effectively than his own firm, Fleming admits it makes him uncomfortable. "I get this pit in my stomach and feel considerably unwell because I think, 'Oh my gosh, I'm sug- gesting that this work go elsewhere and leave the profit pool that I'm sharing,'" he says. Yet, it's a feeling that has to be over- come, because clients cannot afford to and will not pay for an associate at a major law firm to do routine commod- ity work, though they still want their law firm, not only to provide expertise on more complex matters, but also to work with them in managing the whole legal process as efficiently as possible. Therefore, says Fleming, "you have to www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A U GUST 2011 21 huan tRan