Ethical Risks of Offshore Outsourcing of Legal Services

Outline

1. Ethical considerations for offshore outsourcing
   1. Duty to supervise
   2. Attorney–client privilege
   3. Confidentiality
   4. Conflicts of interest
   5. Unauthorized practice of law
   6. Privacy/data security
   7. Ethics opinions
      1. New York City bar
      2. San Diego County bar
      3. Los Angeles County bar
      4. Florida state bar
2. Best practices to avoid malpractice liability and ethics violations
   1. Obtain client consent to outsource
   2. Get reliable referral of law firm/lawyer/outsourcing firm
   3. Supervise contract workers
   4. Check for conflicts of interest
   5. Maintain client confidences
   6. Ensure that contract workers have tight security measures to protect confidential data
   7. Disclose markups on pay to foreign attorneys
   8. 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?