Outsourcing is a common feature of many law firms’ business models. It can offer benefits to firms and their clients in cost and efficiency.
It is important for SRA-regulated law firms and individuals to identify key outsourcing compliance issues, including when taking outsourced services offshore. This will ensure the approach taken to outsourcing reflects requirements in the SRA Standards and Regulations as well as general good practice when outsourcing legal activities or operational functions.
At its simplest, outsourcing is using a third party to provide services that you could otherwise provide. The third-party outsourced service provider will instead provide those services using their own personnel (and often facilities).
In theory you can outsource anything so long as you comply with the law and regulatory requirements. You cannot however abrogate your responsibility for compliance with the SRA’s requirements and you will always remain accountable to the SRA where your work is carried out through others.
You also cannot outsource the provision of reserved legal services to a provider that is not authorised by the SRA (or another regulator) to provide reserved legal services.
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