Western lawyers relaunching their careers in India

A recent New York Times article by Heather Timmons about the latest trend in legal outsourcing: hiring western lawyers to help grow firms in India. Timmons reports that it’s an idea whose time has come, made attractive by factors like compensation that’s “competitive with salaries at midsize law firms outside of major metropolitan areas of the United States,” as well as India’s much lower cost of living.

The legal outsourcing sector in India is hotter than ever, as major companies turn more frequently to offshore companies in an effort to reduce costs. Timmons reports that there were 140 outsourcing companies in India in 2009, a full hundred more than existed in 2005. Revenue in the sector this year is projected at $440 million.

Photo by Laszlo Ilyes