Legal outsourcing firm in Pune

Legal process outsourcing (LPO) company Legasis Services plans to offer a spectrum of value-added legal solutions on a 24 X 7 basis from its delivery centre in Pune.

Legasis delivery centre head Suhas Tulzapurkar said the company will offer services including contract drafting, document examination and review, arbitration and litigation support, legal due diligence to mainly multinational companies from the US and UK.

The firm will also offer patents and other intellectual property-related services. The Pune centre was inaugurated on Friday by Nasscom President Kiran Karnik.

There was a big opportunity for LPO as the world's spending on legal fees exceeds $250 billion, Tulzapurkar said, adding there was a widespread effort to cut down these costs by contracting out as much of legal work as possible.

"India's strength is quality law education and availability of English-knowing lawyers," he said.

Legasis will not, however, restrict its staff profile to just lawyers but will also take on board commercial-legal experts such as company secretaries and chartered accountants whose expertise on taxation and financial side can be utilised, Tulzapurkar said.

The company has so far hired a team of 20 professionals and will ramp up the strength as the business grows.

Legasis will largely cater to the in-house legal work for clients companies in the US or UK though there are plans to pitch for business in CIS countries and the Far East including China. The Indian corporate sector is also rising to the opportunity of legal process outsourcing as they would get international expertise at Indian costs within India, he added.

Legasis is promoted by law firm DSK Legal advocates and solicitors with a few financial investors.

Satish Kishanchandani of DSK Legal said the firm's international contacts could be a positive factor for Legasis. The company is also planning to hire a marketing organisation to represent it in the US and UK.