What does the Bar councils in the US say about the ethicality of legal outsourcing?
The ABA is yet to offer any opinion about legal outsourcing. But at least four major bars have ruled in favor of it ( please read these articles here). They opine that a lawyer may ethically outsource legal support services overseas to a non-lawyer, if the lawyer (a) rigorously supervises the non-lawyer, so as to avoid aiding the non-lawyer in the unauthorized practice of law and to ensure that the non-lawyer’s work contributes to the lawyer’s competent representation of the client; (b) preserves the client’s confidences and secrets when outsourcing; (c) avoids conflicts of interest when outsourcing; (d) bills for outsourcing appropriately; and (e) when necessary, obtains advance client consent to outsourcing.
