Now more than ever before is the time for small to medium sized firms to begin outsourcing.

Outsourcing is the contracting out work to another company. In the 1990s, sending telemarketing, legal document review, and payroll jobs overseas exploded into a billion-dollar industry.

In the legal arena, many large law firms farm out a significant portion of their legal work across the sea to India and The Philippines. Unfortunately, most small or boutique law firms have not benefited from outsourcing.

While the U.S. economy shows signs of recovery, the recurring economic slump has spread across the globe. Corporations, including some of the largest and most prestigious law firms, have been forced to cut back services and layoff employees.

During this continued economic dip, it is the perfect time for small to medium and boutique law firms to join the others in outsourcing legal services abroad.

Following is a discussion of the many advantages for a small law firm to outsource.

1. Lowering Prices on Capital: Especially for small firms who are just starting, large bills can stagnate your growth. Outsourcing allows you reduce your capital expenditures and shift that capital to other areas, which will allow growing your business and attracting new clients.

2. Improve Quality: Outsourcing allows a small or boutique law firm to contract out simpler legal tasks and channel its legal prowess to more important processes that can only be done in-house such as hearings, trials, and conferences.

3. Cut Labor Costs: Salaried employees can be very costly – especially when you include healthcare, taxes, insurance and training. Outsourcing legal services enables a small to medium sized firm to focus your valuable resources where you want. Also, the money saved from taxes and healthcare can be shifted to other business building areas.

4. Initiate a New Project with a Bang: Your firm has a plan to offer a new service. Everything is in place except you need to hire two new attorneys. The advertising, interviewing and hiring of two attorneys for a small firm can be incredibly time consuming. As a result this exciting new service becomes a non-starter. Outsourcing various legal services enables you to launch your new projects on time with a bang.

5. Concentrate on Generating Growth and Minimizing Risks: Law firm partners need to focus their mental and physical energy on generating growth and minimizing risks. If not, the firm will whither away. Competition is heavy - especially during our current economic slump; therefore, it is crucial for a small to medium sized firm to outsource various legal tasks overseas and concentrate on successful growth.

To assist in your ability to begin outsourcing, here is a list of some of the legal services that are currently being outsourced:

• Litigation document review
• Due Diligence Review
• Legal Research
• Legal Writing
• IP legal work both substantive and administrative
• Paralegal Services
• Administrative and Secretarial Services

These lists are not exhaustive of the types of legal services being outsourced and the advantages that are realized.

Before outsourcing, it is extremely important to choose the most appropriate outsourcing firm. For example, there are numerous advantages to outsourcing to Israel instead of India or The Philippines.