Print this article Legal Process Outsourcing: The hot new career in law July 31, 2013 16:49 IST Through legal Process Outsourcing, law professionals can help their clients maintain profitability and reduce risk by standardising the legal work in a project- oriented manner. Read on to know how you can pursue a career in it The paradigms of choosi ng a career are changing and so are the opportunities in the mar ket. Likewise, law students are now not wary of exploring non-traditional careers to make a mark in their professional lives. The L egal Process Outsourc ing (LPO) has emerged as the new-age career option for many. Legal services i n demand, global ly The g lobal spend on legal services has increased dramatically in the last few years and this in turn, has made the in-house legal departments and law firms very cogniza nt of keeping a check on cost and quality while delivering large work volumes. This is where the LPO companies come into picture, helping their clients maintain profitability and reduce risk by standardising the legal work in a project-oriented manner and putting a process around it. The evolving model of the LPO industry has shown notable connection and coordination between corporations , LPO vendors and law firms. The compet itive advantages that LPOs provide are numerous. While they are time and resource-intensive and have the capability to handle low to mid-complexity work, their technology -oriented solutions offer increased scalability and efficiency. Range of services As per a research by Business Wire , the global LPO market was estimated to be worth $2.4 billion in 2012 and is growing at a rate of 28 per cent annually. LPO is also the fastest growing sub-sector in the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) domain. Looking at this growth rate, the work opportunities that an LPO provides are diverse. While LPOs do some very high-end complex work ranging from legal research, drafting and analytics, they are capable of providing support with legal back-end operations. The perception of an LPO was a b it different few years back but not anymore. They h ave moved up the value chain by delivering quality work to clients by means of high-powered technology and bu siness solutions and are now perceived to be business partners, not just outsourcing vendors . Some LPOs deliver economies of scale and knowledge through right-shore delivery platforms working very closely with client base across domains. The established LPOs work across diverse work streams providing a wide exposure of operations like litigation support, corporate legal support -- contract management M&A due diligence, intellectual property and ancillary services. Some of these are extremely strategic and specialised work areas. Please click NEXT to continue reading... How GenNext can benefit from the career July 31, 2013 16:49 IST LPO is an emerging career option for the next generation lawyers. While law college graduates may explore law firms, in-house legal departments and litigation and then consider working in an LPO, the opportunities created in this area are limitless and quite motivating. Standardising processes and assigning a structure to complex legal work can be quite a motivating factor for law graduates who love to innovate and break out of the clutter. The opportunity to work across different lines of business for customers across different parts of the world and exposure to multinational way of working is the unique proposition that LPOs have come to offer. For instance, UnitedLex associates work with Fortune 500 and Amlaw 200 Client Base early in their career and this international exposure is matchless. LPOs have been providing support across a wide array of services that range from administrative work (contract abstraction, patent Leg al Pr oce ss Outs ou rcin g: Th e h ot new ca reer i n law - R edif f.com htt p:// www.red if f. com /g et ahead /slide-show/s lide- show-1-career-l eg al-p r... 1 of 3 8/1/2013 7:49 AM