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Globalization of commodification: legal process outsourcing and Indian lawyers

Author

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  • Noronha, Ernesto
  • D'Cruz, Premilla
  • Kuruvilla, Sarosh

Abstract

egal process outsourcing (LPO) refers to the contracting of legal work from regions where it is costly to perform, such as the US to areas where it can be performed at a significantly decreased cost. LPO has been made possible by the disaggregation of the legal processes into discrete units, each of which can then outsourced to cheaper service providers. Anecdotal evidence suggests a variety of benefits such as financial gains, opportunities to perform “global” work in a corporate atmosphere and acquisition of important skills and training that enhances the prestige of the host country lawyers. In India, which has played a significant role, LPO firms are viewed as important catalysts in the transformation of the country’s highly stratified legal profession based on social identities. This qualitative study, based on 38 interviews, concludes that the corporate culture was an attractive proposition for lawyers from non-elite backgrounds; however, the commodification of offshored work led to a deprofessionalisation of lawyers, reducing them to “glorified clerks.” As a result, LPO firms only provided parallel avenues for career mobility but did not destabilise the local legal market which at its core remains socially networked.

Suggested Citation

  • Noronha, Ernesto & D'Cruz, Premilla & Kuruvilla, Sarosh, 2016. "Globalization of commodification: legal process outsourcing and Indian lawyers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65138, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:65138
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    Cited by:

    1. Ernesto Noronha & Premilla D’Cruz & Muneeb Ul Lateef Banday, 2020. "Navigating Embeddedness: Experiences of Indian IT Suppliers and Employees in the Netherlands," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 95-113, June.
    2. Debasisha Mishra & M. Ramkumar, 2022. "Study of project type and team structure in the Indian software outsourcing industry," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 59(1), pages 324-349, March.
    3. Noronha, Ernesto & D'Cruz, Premilla, 2020. "The Indian IT industry: A global production network perspective," IPE Working Papers 134/2020, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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