Ethical Risks of Offshore Outsourcing of Legal Services
Avoiding Malpractice Liability and Ethics Violations
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
Outline
- Ethical considerations for offshore outsourcing
- Duty to supervise
- Attorney–client privilege
- Confidentiality
- Conflicts of interest
- Unauthorized practice of law
- Privacy/data security
- Ethics opinions
- New York City bar
- San Diego County bar
- Los Angeles County bar
- Florida state bar
- Best practices to avoid malpractice liability and ethics violations
- Obtain client consent to outsource
- Get reliable referral of law firm/lawyer/outsourcing firm
- Supervise contract workers
- Check for conflicts of interest
- Maintain client confidences
- Ensure that contract workers have tight security measures to protect confidential data
- Disclose markups on pay to foreign attorneys
- Incorporate ethical expectations in outsourcing contract
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key questions:
- How have bar opinions dealt with the confidentiality and privacy concerns arising from offshore outsourcing?
- Are non-U.S. lawyers handling U.S. cases engaged in the unauthorized practice of law?
- What protections can firms and corporations put in place to avoid liability for outsourcing?
Faculty

Michael P. Downey
Partner
Hinshaw & Culbertson
He helps law firms comply with their legal and ethical obligations and advises attorneys on avoiding malpractice claims... | Read More
He helps law firms comply with their legal and ethical obligations and advises attorneys on avoiding malpractice claims and disciplinary complaints. He teaches legal ethics at Washington University.
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David R. Cohen
Partner
K&L Gates
He concentrates in e-discovery issues, technology and intellectual property litigation, insurance coverage, real estate... | Read More
He concentrates in e-discovery issues, technology and intellectual property litigation, insurance coverage, real estate and other complex litigation, and appeals.
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Andrew I. Dilworth
Partner
Cooper White & Cooper
He concentrates in the areas of general business litigation, criminal defense, and professional responsibility. He has... | Read More
He concentrates in the areas of general business litigation, criminal defense, and professional responsibility. He has written several articles on professional responsibility topics.
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Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.
CLE On-Demand Audio