Is offshore legal process outsourcing / LPO allowed by U.S. ethical rules?
Yes. At least six ethics panels in the U.S. already have addressed the issue, and all have ruled in favor of off-shore legal outsourcing, or legal process outsourcing ( LPO / legal KPO ). These include the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which issued Ethics Opinion 08-451, which states that (a) “U.S. lawyers are free to outsource legal work, including to lawyers or non-lawyers outside the country, if they adhere to [various] ethics rules,” and (b) legal outsourcing is “a salutary trend in a global economy.” As The New York Times reported, there is no problem with off-shoring, said Stephen Gillers, a professor at NYU School of Law and a legal ethics expert, because even though the [offshore] lawyer is not authorized by an American state to practice law, the review by American lawyers sanitizes the process.
