Legal Process Outsourcing: What to Send Out

What to Outsource and What to Keep

Outsource work with a clear boundary, a repeatable method and a result you can assess against written instructions. Keep decisions about the client’s position, settlement strategy and legal advice with the responsible lawyer. A provider can prepare a chronology or flag documents against a review protocol. Your team decides what those documents mean for the case.

For a hypothetical discovery matter needing 20 reviewers for six weeks, four spare paralegals cannot cover the full review workload. A managed review team can apply the firm’s coding instructions across the document set. The partner retains the relevance framework and privilege decisions, with difficult documents escalated to nominated lawyers. Agree how reviewers will raise uncertain cases before the first batch begins.

For a dispute involving company minutes and trust records, define the issues and identify the source set before reviewers begin. Index the production with stable document identifiers. Assign initial relevance coding and reserve privilege decisions for the nominated lawyer.

Train reviewers on a sample, check their coding and resolve disagreements before releasing later batches. Hand over the checked index, coding record and unresolved exceptions. The provider applies the instructions. The responsible lawyer gives the legal advice. The firm’s eDiscovery workflow connects that work to its evidence and production duties.

Bank-statement analysis is a different outsourcing package: you commission a finished analysis instead of filling reviewer seats. With FinTrace, you send the statements as held, including scans. Your instructions explain the questions the matter needs answered. FinTrace turns large PDF bundles into one searchable Excel ledger and a readable report. The report flags suspicious transactions and cites each finding to its source PDF filename and page.

That workflow saves hours of conversion and statement review while putting the supporting evidence directly at hand. In one recent matter, work estimated at roughly 50 hours of manual lawyer review was delivered in about 10 hours. Your lawyer retains the judgment on what to rely on and how to use the findings. For the wider dispute workflow, see litigation support.

Types of Providers

Choose a provider by the work product you need and how much day-to-day management your team can supply. Legal process outsourcing companies handle defined work packages, while staffing providers add people to your existing team. An alternative legal service provider can combine either model with technology or managed delivery.

Provider Type	Work It Suits	What to Define
Managed LPO team	Repeated contract abstraction, due diligence support or document coding	Instructions, escalation rules and accepted output
Paralegal services	File preparation, chronologies and administrative matter support	Tasks, access permissions and supervising lawyer
Document review provider	A large collection reviewed for relevance, issues or privilege	Coding protocol, reviewer training and quality sampling
eDiscovery provider	Electronic information collected and prepared for disclosure	Data sources, processing rules and production format
Specialist per-matter service	A finished analysis of a defined record set	Questions, source material and deliverables
Contract lawyer	Extra qualified legal capacity within your team	Role, practising requirements and supervision

Lawyers on Demand’s Australian service list includes legal consultants and managed paralegal teams. Deloitte’s Australian-facing legal managed services page describes outsourced support for high-volume legal activities. These examples show why the ALSP label alone does not tell you whether you are buying staff capacity or a managed result.

An outsourced eDiscovery engagement usually starts with preserving and collecting electronic records from agreed sources. Processing then removes duplicates, extracts searchable text and prepares files for a review platform. Reviewers apply the legal team’s instructions before documents are exported in the required disclosure format. An eDiscovery provider can run the technical stages, while a law firm running outsourced discovery can also manage legal review and privilege decisions.

Elevate’s published discovery services include eDiscovery and document review. A narrower specialist service, such as FinTrace, analyses supplied bank statements and returns the ledger and findings report per matter. Forensic accountants also use FinTrace to free time for interpretation and their wider forensic work.

A managed eDiscovery service can coordinate collection through production under an agreed scope. Technical processing support handles tasks such as deduplication and text extraction, while hosted review services supply the workspace and access controls. A discovery law firm can also take responsibility for supervised legal review.

A platform licence supplies access to software. Your firm still needs people to run the review. Identify who performs each stage before treating two proposals as equivalent.

Shortlist providers on comparable work they have completed for Australian firms. Ask who will staff your matter, who supervises them and how exceptions reach your team. Request a de-identified work example and an explanation of the quality checks behind it. Assess data access and subcontracting alongside the deliverable, before agreeing a price.

Supervision, Privilege and Confidentiality

Your outsourcing arrangement needs a named supervising lawyer and written controls over confidential information. Rule 37 of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules requires the responsible solicitor to exercise reasonable supervision over solicitors and employees delivering the matter’s legal services. The Law Council’s rules are a national model. Apply the version in force in your jurisdiction when setting the firm’s duties.

For outsourced work, specify what the provider can decide and what requires referral to your lawyer. Agree training on the matter’s instructions and a process for checking completed batches. Keep a record of instructions and changes so the team can explain how the result was produced.

Rule 9 governs client confidentiality and includes people engaged by the practice to deliver or administer the client’s legal services. That does not make unrestricted file sharing appropriate. Limit access to people who need it for the agreed task. Written terms must cover permitted use, subcontractors, incident notification and return or deletion of files.

Privilege depends on confidentiality and the purpose of the communication or document, not a heading stamped on the report. The Australian Government Solicitor’s privilege guidance explains the dominant-purpose test and third-party communications. Structure the engagement around obtaining legal advice or supporting existing or reasonably anticipated litigation where those are its actual purposes. Record that purpose in the instructions and control circulation of the work product.

A pre-existing bank statement does not become privileged merely because you send it to a provider. Separate source records from confidential instructions and analysis when managing access and disclosure. The responsible lawyer must assess privilege for the particular material and proceedings.

Pricing and Scoping

Compare outsourcing quotes on the same inputs and deliverables, because hourly and document-based charges measure different things. A low unit rate can leave supervision, hosting or rework outside the quote.

Pricing Model	How It Works	Scope Point to Settle
Hourly	You pay for time worked	Seniority, time reporting and approval before exceeding a cap
Per document or page	Charges follow the agreed unit count	Treatment of attachments, duplicates, scans and blank pages
Fixed quote	One amount covers a defined package	Included outputs, assumptions and the process for extra work

The written scope must identify the material supplied and the questions or coding rules to apply. State the delivery format, deadlines and acceptance criteria. Include responsibility for supervision, escalation and corrections. Also settle tax treatment, third-party charges and who can approve a change in scope.

An outsourced eDiscovery scope identifies each custodian and data source, who collects the records and how collection is documented. Specify processing settings, hosting capacity and retention, review responsibilities and the production format. Acceptance checks can reconcile input and output counts, test searchability and confirm that withheld documents and redactions follow the approved decisions.

Compare quotes using their actual units: data volume for processing or hosting, document counts for review and hours for specialist work. Define how duplicates, expanded files and recurring hosting charges are counted. Require approval for a new custodian, an added source, a changed review protocol or an extended hosting period. Allocate responsibility for correcting rejected output within the original scope.

For a review project, define whether the quote includes initial coding, privilege escalation, quality checks and final production. For financial analysis, identify the accounts and statement periods supplied, plus the ledger fields and report you need. Those details let both sides distinguish a correction from a new request.

FinTrace quotes per matter using a fixed base fee plus a per-page component, with the amount depending on scope. Its statement-analysis service costs a fraction of the cost of manual review or engaging a forensic accountant for the same work. The initial enquiry outlines the matter, approximate pages and accounts, plus the timeframe. Statements follow assessment and acceptance of the quote.

Offshore Providers and Data Location

Offshore outsourcing requires you to establish who can access client information and where each copy is stored. An Australian contracting entity does not establish that the reviewers, support staff or backups are in Australia.

For firms covered by the Privacy Act, APP 8 generally requires reasonable steps before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient. Those steps seek to prevent the recipient breaching the Australian Privacy Principles, apart from APP 1. Exceptions apply, and an Australian entity can remain accountable for the overseas recipient’s conduct. The OAIC distinguishes disclosure from arrangements where the Australian entity retains effective control.

Obtain a written data-location description covering active storage, backups and remote access. Require the provider to identify subcontractors and the countries from which staff work. Agree controls on downloading files, access removal and onward disclosure. The OAIC generally expects an enforceable contract for overseas disclosure, with terms suited to the information and risk.

Map storage and backups alongside support access, subprocessors and onward disclosures before deciding how APP 8 applies. Overseas contractor access usually involves disclosure. A limited storage arrangement can remain a use where enforceable terms and actual controls preserve the firm’s effective control. Record the basis for that conclusion. Calling the service Australian-hosted does not answer who can access it.

For a disclosure, document the reasonable steps and section 16C accountability position, or the specific APP 8.2 exception relied on. A substantially similar overseas law exception also requires enforceable individual remedies. General client consent to outsourcing does not establish every exception. Match contractual restrictions to operational access controls, incident reporting and oversight.

For eDiscovery hosting, name authorised users and the storage and support countries. Set preservation holds and retention rules, including what happens when a matter ends. Agree export formats covering documents, coding and audit history. Confirm the firm can obtain its complete review record, with migration assistance and deletion handled consistently with any continuing hold.

The Philippines is an established option for Australian legal teams seeking offshore support. Providers market English-language legal and administrative skills, with working hours that can overlap Australia’s. Law Assist describes Philippine-based paralegals and legal administrators managed from Australia. Flat Planet lists document review, legal research and transcription among its Philippine outsourcing services.

Those service lists establish available categories, not the suitability of an individual reviewer for your matter. Confirm experience with the relevant Australian procedure and the person responsible for checking the work. Agree hours of overlap with your supervising lawyer and an escalation path for urgent questions. Assess the cross-border data arrangement before giving the offshore team access.

What Legal Process Outsourcing Means

Legal process outsourcing, or LPO, is a law firm or legal team sending defined legal work to an outside provider under the firm’s supervision. The work can include document review, contract abstraction or discovery support. The arrangement can be local or offshore, and it can buy a managed team or a finished work product.

Hiring a contract lawyer adds an individual’s capacity to your team, usually with your team directing their work. A managed LPO engagement places more responsibility for delivering the agreed package with the provider. The broader alternative legal service provider label covers flexible staffing, managed services and other delivery models. It is not a qualification or a promise about what is included.

Legal bookkeeping services concern the practice’s accounting support and require their own permissions for client-money work. An outsourced matter review has a different scope. Department-wide legal operations and standing outside counsel guidelines also extend beyond the instructions for one commissioned work package.

Start your outsourcing brief with the output your lawyers need, then assign the work and controls required to produce it. A defined statement-analysis package and a six-week discovery review need different providers and supervision. Write the scope around that difference before choosing a legal process outsourcing company.