Archive for July 13th, 2009
Law jobs move to India.
The most natural jobs provided by outsourcing firms would be based around the call center industry but there are a whole range of jobs that can be adapted to work within the remit of outsourcing. Whether it is a service industry or a production based industry, there are possible and plausible ways to ensure that the jobs is undertaken and completed to everyone’s satisfaction. Given the current concerns over finances and economics, it is not surprising that employers and firms in industries which were probably considered safe are now looking at ways they can move their work force overseas. Offshore outsourcing is becoming an attractive proposition for so many industries and the latest shock moves could affect the lawyers based in London. When it comes to outsourcing, the general public usually has a degree of sympathy with those people who have lost their jobs but lawyers are a breed apart and they may not garner the same level of support as many other employees would.
An announcement from one of the biggest law firms in India, FoxMandal Little, has put London solicitors on red alert and anxiously waiting news about their own future. The Indian firm has received a number of jobs and offshore postings from the UK in the past year and they believe that the amount of work that they will receive in the next year will be double the current figures. A lot of this belief stems from the fact that representatives of the firm have held meetings with around 100 City firms in London, each of them looking to replace around 100 workers with work being undertaken in Mumbai and Delhi. The basic math of this situation would see 1,000 jobs in the City being taken away from UK workers and moving to India.
It is believed that as many as up to 3,000 workers in India, currently employed as administrative staff or corporate lawyers will soon end up on the payroll of London based firms. This will be of great benefit to the London firms through the reduced labor costs they will have but obviously they are confident there will be no noticeable dip in quality. Given that law and the legal world is such a competitive industry, there is no suggestion that a firm would be able to survive if the quality of their services dipped by too much. Competitors would be able to step in and offer a greater service to clients and take customers away. Therefore, there is an obvious level of satisfaction with the law services being provided by Indian law staff, which only bodes well for Delhi and Mumbai’s progress in the future.
The current figures for outsourced law jobs in India stands at around 10,000 people so there is a sizable amount of lawyers already working on outsourced jobs in the nation but there appears to be much more to come. Many people keep expecting the Indian outsourcing bubble to burst but with statements like this, it can only be likely that India will remain at the top of the outsourcing tree.
