In the present business and commercial scenario, whichever way one chooses to look, there is no denying the importance of the ever-growing legal outsourcing sector. It has been the trend over the last decade or so and will continue to develop exponentially in 2016 too. There has been a shift in the dynamics of international trade and that includes the outsourcing industry.

However, it is seen that the lead has been taken by legal outsourcing services due to certain specific factors. The global financial meltdown saw even some supposedly strong economies of the world take a hit not to speak of the millions affected by this upheaval.

Suddenly law firms the world over were inundated with people seeking relief from bankruptcies and litigation initiated by lending companies. Unable to cope with the rush, they found that the only way out was to resort to outsourcing. And they also found that legal process outsourcing companies could help them absorb the pressure while they focused on core activities.

What are the legal outsourcing services trends and possibilities for 2016?

1. Competitive pricing: The cost of providing high-value services by legal firms at a fraction of the prevailing cost will become a reality thanks to enhanced legal outsourcing opportunities. The level of expertise provided by legal outsourcing is on the rise and more and more law firms will take advantage of this scenario to spin off such activities as research and documentation.

The wage differential between offshore legal outsourcing services and what associates and paralegals of the outsourcing countries charge will be an added an attractive proposition to law firms around the world.

2. Enhanced business opportunities: Small legal firms and individual legal practitioners will take on cases that even in the not too distant past were beyond their capacity because of the quantum of processing that was required in such cases.

Now, the proficiency, level of professionalism and cheap rates offered by legal outsourcing services providers will ensure that small firms too will opt for increased business as they can outsource a more mundane task. This will have a cascading effect and result in an increase in the legal outsourcing business.

3. Direct liaison with top companies: There is a flip side to the legal outsourcing scenario which is today in a nascent stage but is bound to grow exponentially in 2016.

With the obvious advantages of hiring a legal outsourcing company, top companies, more specifically those in the Fortune 500 category will directly get on this bandwagon to reap the benefits. They have legal teams on their payrolls but will prefer to reduce billing costs by dealing directly with the outsourcing company.

In this way, the go-between (legal firm) will be affected but the growth of outsourcing agencies will remain unhindered. By having a local law firm simply stamp its approval on the outsourced work, any restrictions on the unauthorized practice of law can be circumvented. This is especially true for the United States.

Read Also: Legal Process Outsourcing Seen As a Permanent Trend in Legal Industry

These then are the legal outsourcing trends and possibilities likely to emerge in 2016. But whatever way one looks at it, all leads point to a strong and fast-growing legal outsourcing industry.