Publications

• 30 Second Ideas
• Accounting Updates
• Alerts
• Articles
• Business Surveys
• Construction Edge
• Healthcare Edge
• Insurance Edge
• Legal Talent
• Manufacturing Edge
• Not-for-Profit Edge
• Quick Links & Good Ideas
• SEC Edge
• Strategy Insights Blog
• Surviving the Upturn
• Tax Highlights

Article Author:

Thinking of Sending Your Next Document Review Offshore? You Might Just Get What You Pay For

You Might Just Get What You Pay For

Jill Elden Rorem, Esq., Partner, Legal Staffing
jrorem@BlackmanKallick.com, 312-980-2997

We all know that contract attorneys have become a critical part of litigation. Blackman Kallick and other agencies have been providing professionals on a contract basis for years. The latest trend in the use of contract attorneys is sending documents offshore to India and other countries for review. The hourly rates in offshore locations are significantly lower than the $50–60 per hour firms are charged in the United States. Consider the following concerns and decide if you’ll really be saving:

• Control of the review is limited.
• Significant time differences hamper effective communication.
• Language barriers lead to higher training costs, communication problems and efficiency issues, not to mention mistakes.
• It remains undecided whether sending work abroad constitutes waiving the attorney-client privilege and Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure, since the U.S. government conducts surveillance of communications between U.S. residents and foreign nationals.
• Offshore attorneys are not generally trained to our standards and do not take a bar exam equivalent before they practice law.
• Offshore attorneys are not bound by the same rules of ethics as U.S. attorneys.
• Privilege is different offshore.

Sometimes saving money isn’t worth having to save face. We’re happy to discuss how we can manage your outsourced document reviews successfully and cost effectively.

Strange but True—Law Enforcement Policy

The new police chief of Flint, MI, recently announced that police officers may arrest people who wear their pants low enough to reveal their buttocks. In a statement released on June 26, 2008, Acting Police Chief David R. Dicks said, “This immoral self-expression goes beyond free speech. It rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.” Police officers are unsure how to handle the issue. Keith Speer, president of the Flint Police Officers Association reflected, “What about plumber’s crack?”

Read the full story, click here.

This publication is part of Blackman Kallick’s marketing of professional services, and is not written tax advice directed at the specific facts and circumstances of any person and/or entity. Contents of this publication are of a general nature, and you should not act on this information without obtaining professional advice from your business advisor that is appropriately tailored to your individual needs and circumstances. This written advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.