Legal Process Outsourcing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Location (Offshore, On-shore), By Service (E-discovery, Patent Support), By Region (APAC, Latin America), And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030

Report Overview

The global legal process outsourcing market size was valued at USD 10.77 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.9% from 2022 to 2030. The LPO providers, once acquainted with the organization’s business procedures, provide numerous services that include contract drafting and management, e-discovery, review & management, compliance assistance, litigation support, and patent support. LPOs have the broad legal expertise and modern technologies that assist the organizations in the objective coding of documents, gathering and synthesizing facts, negotiations, and objective legal research.

Players, such as Mindcrest Inc., QuisLex Inc., Pangea3 (E&Y), and UnitedLex, have been expanding their offerings beyond litigation and regulatory investigation support services to contract management and other corporate services. Vendor selection is one of the key deciding factors for the success of an LPO program. On-shore or offshore outsourcing can be selected based on the type of services to be outsourced. Companies, such as Syntel, support organizations that look for innovative services and solutions to achieve operational competitiveness. Reference checks include investigating and interviewing principal lawyers as well as non-lawyers; in addition, the hiring practices of the vendor are examined to identify the quality of employees.

Maintaining security through the process involves inspecting the provider’s security network as well as premises, along with signing non-disclosure agreements and related contractual clauses.LPO allows law firms to outsource low-value activities and focus their in-house workforce on higher-value activities. Concerns in LPO adoption include security and confidentiality risks; in addition, to ensuring high quality. These concerns have been overcome through approaches, such as certifications and building Service-Level Agreements (SLAs). Signing Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA), as well as maintaining physical security using effective access control, helps ensure data security and confidentiality.

Cost-saving, scalability, and the flexibility offered by outsourcing legal services are expected to be the key driving force for the market over the next six years. Overall saving depends on the type and degree of service provided. The cost of legal services in markets, such as India, is less than that in North America. Outsourcing costs per hour have been reported to be as low as USD 50, which is expected to boost savings considerably. Moreover, infrastructure costs in other overseas markets, such as India and South Africa, are less than those of developed countries, such as the U.S. and the U.K.

Location Insights

Based on locations, the market can be sub-divided into on-shore and off-shore outsourcing. The offshore outsourcing segment dominated the market in 2021 and accounted for the maximum share of more than 77.8% of the global revenue. Outsourcing legal activities help organizations in managing time and workforce effectively. South Africa, India, and the Philippines are popular destinations for LPO, which have a considerable time difference from the U.S. and Europe. The time difference helps provide an around-the-clock workforce, whenever required. Also, countries with common law systems in place would share the same basic legal framework.

Thus, the Philippines and India have emerged as leading offshore LPO destinations. On the other hand, the on-shore outsourcing location segment is expected to register the fastest growth rate over the forecast period. On-shore outsourcing is expected to gain prominence on account of the growing perception among law firms that these service providers are better equipped than their offshore counterparts. Additional benefits, such as better control over the operations, enhanced data security, shared regulatory framework, and sophisticated service delivery models are expected to impact the market for on-shore LPO providers favorably.

Service Insights

Based on services, the market has been further divided into contract drafting, review & management, compliance assistance, e-discovery, litigation support, patent support, and others. The e-discovery segment dominated the market in 2021 and accounted for the largest share of more than 22.75% of the global revenue. E-discovery is a time-consuming process that is best handled with a dedicated technical and legal expert. The total electronically stored information law firms need to handle in the upcoming years is expected to grow exponentially. Many firms try to manage e-discovery in-house or through third parties or a combination of both.

The law firms have started outsourcing e-discovery for several reasons, including the benefit of legal technology expertise, lower expenses & recovered costs, data security, and faster & accurate data. For instance, the cost of ownership of an e-discovery function includes technology implementation, maintenance & employment training, salaries, and, other overhead costs of the in-house support staff. The additional cost of deploying the software and hardware solutions alone costs around USD 200,000 annually. Thereby, LPO shall help in cutting down the high cost associated with the in-house e-discovery solution.

Regional Insights

The Asia Pacific led the market in 2021 and accounted for a share of over 70.5% of the global revenue and is estimated to expand further at the fastest CAGR from 2022 to 2030. This high share can be attributed to the presence of key offshore locations in India and the Philippines. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to retain the leading position growing at a significant CAGR from 2022 to 2030. LPO in countries, such as India, provides quantifiable advantages; these include the availability of numerous English-speaking lawyers; whose pay rate is considerably lower than those of their U.S. counterparts.

The high-level competency and experience of an LPO considerably improve the relationship with the client and enhances work output. Latin America also accounted for a considerable market share and is expected to grow at the second-fastest CAGR from 2022 to 2030, thereby emerging as a nearshore alternative to services offered similar to that of India. Furthermore, a large number of firms in the U.S. prefer to outsource repetitive legal activities, which is spurred by the growing legal industry in the North American region. Moreover, with the growing concerns regarding the legal overheads in countries, such as the U.K. and U.S., corporate firms aim to outsource specific legal proceedings through their legal representatives. However, legal regulations differ geographically, which is viewed as a barrier by cautious organizations considering the outsourcing of legal services.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

Vendors active in the market are focusing aggressively on expanding their customer base and gaining a competitive edge over their rivals. Hence, they pursue various strategic initiatives, including partnerships, mergers & acquisitions, collaborations, and new product/technology development. For instance, in October 2020, Clarivate, a U.S.-based analytics company, acquired CPA Global Ltd. to create an IP (Intellectual Property) powerhouse. CPA Global Ltd. has joined Clarivate to expand its offerings in the insights and analytics business. In March 2019, Cobra Legal Solution LLC launched a new website to provide legal and technological support to its customer in an effective way. Some of the prominent players in the global legal process outsourcing market include:

• Clairvolex

• Clutch Group

• Cobra Legal Solutions LLC

• CPA Global Ltd.

• Evalueserve

• Exigent

• Infosys Ltd.

• Integreon Managed Solutions Inc.

• Legal Advantage LLC

• Lex Outsourcing

• Lexplosion Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

• Lexsphere Pvt. Ltd.

• Mindcrest Inc.

• Pangea3

• QuisLex Inc.

• UnitedLex

Legal Process Outsourcing Market Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at the global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2017 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global legal process outsourcing market report based on location, service, and region:

• Location Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Offshore Outsourcing

  • On-shore Outsourcing

• Service Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Contract Drafting

  • Review and Management

  • Compliance Assistance

  • E-discovery

  • Litigation Support

  • Patent Support

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • Europe

    • Germany

    • U.K.

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • India

    • Philippines

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

  • MEA