Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Legal E-Discovery Services In India

Legal process outsourcing (LPO) and legal knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) have changed dramatically in India due to the recent events. The Supreme Court of India has declared that foreign law firms, LPOs/legal KPOs, chartered accountant firms, etc cannot practice law in India anymore.

The term legal practice has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as covering both litigation and non litigation related aspects of legal practice in India. This means that only Indian lawyers enrolled under respective bar councils and actually practicing law are entitled to provide LPO/legal KPO, consultancy, litigation, non litigation, agreement drafting and vetting and all other legal services in India. 

In short, legal practice in India, both litigation and non litigation, has now become an exclusive professional area for Indian advocates alone. All LPOs/legal KPOs providing legal services in India would be engaging in illegal activities and bar council of India can take action against them.

Similarly, all such legal services by these foreign law firm/lawyers, LPOs, legal KPOs, CA/CS firms, audit and accountant firms, etc are illegal in nature and thus risky to take. Clearly, legal services in India are under metamorphism.

With a general ban upon foreign and non legal personnel to practice law in India, Indian lawyers and law firms must now deliver and rise up to the occasion. This is more so regarding information and communication technology (ICT) related legal fields.

For instance, cyber lawyers in India is need of the hour due to growing ICT related cases in India. Similarly, lawyers must be aware of cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber law, e-discovery and many similar techno legal issues. 

E-discovery outsourcing to India is going to increase in the near future. With foreign lawyers and law firms out of the picture, Indian law firms like Perry4Law would play a more pro active role in this regard. This is more so as even non legal e-discovery firms would be prevented to operate in India due to the recent order of Supreme Court.

Electronic discovery (E-Discovery) services in India would be in much demand as more and more technology related issues are giving rise to legal disputes. Although we have no norms for electronic discovery (e-discovery) in India as on the date yet they may be formulated very soon.

With the active use of virtual data rooms for legal compliances in India e-discovery could see a jump in India. E-discovery for cloud computing in India and e-discovery for social media in India are some of the areas where ICT law firms like Perry4Law are providing their services in India. If you have e-discovery requirements, you may consider seeking services of law firms like Perry4Law as other may be banned in India.