- Dearth of LPO ethical guidance in UK
- LPO conferences assist legal professionals on ethics
The absence of prior ethical guidance on legal process outsourcing has many London legal professionals turning to conferences for counsel on legal outsourcing ethics.
Only recently has The Law Society or the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”) started to weigh in on the ethical implications of outsourced legal services domestically and overseas. As a result, London legal professionals are seeking direction from their peers and industry experts in conference venues.
The two most prominent conferences held in London this summer included “The Lawyer’s Legal Process Outsourcing and Offshoring” and the “C5 Legal Process Outsourcing”. Both conferences exclusively focused on outsourced legal services and featured commentary or dedicated sessions on the ethical issues surrounding LPO.
The Lawyer conference featured commentary by Alison Hook, Head of the International Division of The Law Society. Hook commented on a range of issues associated with outsourced legal services as well as the role of professional bodies such as The Law Society. The C5 conference featured ethical commentary by Mark Ross of Integreon as well as conference chair Michael Bell of Fronterion.
For guidance on the ethical implications of LPO, legal professionals in England and Wales are currently only able to reference general ethical guidance, which includes the recent announcement by the SRA, and infer similarities from US counterparts who have the benefit of a number of ethical issuances by various US court and bar organisations.
