Legal departments are undergoing a massive transformation. Legal teams have had to navigate unprecedented change as they have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of remote work, increasingly complex data privacy regulations, and technological innovations.
The Global Economy’s Impact on Outsourcing
In this context, general counsel must adjust legal strategy so that it is aligned with the business while also anticipating and managing risks prudently.
Outsourcing allows a department to differentiate itself and increase capacity without increasing overhead costs. Delegating time-consuming and repetitive tasks allows teams to devote more time to company-critical, high-value activities. As a result, productivity rises, internal processing costs fall, and project completion speeds up.
According to a survey respondent to CT Corporation’s 2023 Legal Outsourcing Study: “Global economics will again put pressure on lowering costs [so] tactical/repeatable work that can be either automated or outsourced will be on the table again.”
In 2023, M&A will require more attention
Due to the volatility (and sometimes freezing) of equity markets, companies and investors seeking liquidity will be more interested in mergers and acquisitions in the coming year.
As a result, demand for expert legal work will continue to be high. Indeed, chief legal officers predict that major transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions and corporate spinoffs, will consume the most time and resources in 2023.
With inflation and the threat of recession, the volume of post-closing M&A disputes is also said to be increasing. Buyers may seek to recoup valuation gaps as deals underperform in today’s challenging market, according to reports. Disputes may also increase as the use of earnout structures expands. Cybersecurity risk, data privacy, geopolitical issues, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are among the other threats.
Outsourcing activities
Respondents to the CT Corporation 2023 Legal Outsourcing Study selected the following four top areas when asked which activities are outsourced and plans for future outsourcing in the coming year:
- Regulatory risk and compliance services: 27% outsource and 27% plan to
- Entity management: 26% currently outsource, 18% plan to
- Due diligence on pending M&A: 27% currently outsource, 18% plan to
- Business license management and compliance: 21% currently outsource, 15% plan to
Who makes outsourcing decisions?
According to CT Corporation’s 2023 Legal Outsourcing Study, legal work outsourcing decisions are mostly made by one of two groups:
- Legal operations professionals (63%)
- In-house counsel/corporate compliance executives (54%)
Only about one-third of organizations use procurement professionals to assist with this process.
How are decisions about what and to whom to outsource made?
As legal teams decide which processes they will outsource, study participants cited budget and cost, experience, and security as extremely important.
Unsurprisingly, the same factors were crucial in determining which providers to outsource to. This implies that these decisions are made concurrently, implying that trusted providers drive buyers to outsource specific activities, rather than buyers making that decision independently first, followed by a selection of the most appropriate vendor.
Conclusion
As the business and regulatory environment becomes more complex, and costs and workloads increase, corporate legal departments must consider when and what activities to outsource.
There are numerous advantages to outsourcing. It increases capacity without increasing overhead, which helps to distinguish the legal department. Delegating time-consuming and mundane (but critical) tasks to the right partner allows teams to focus on more meaningful work, provide excellent service to clients, and generate stronger performance.
Source : wolterskluwer
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About Skyhigh.Vip
Skyhigh.Vip is a global institutional investor with a vast interest in Arts / Construction / Education / Business Services / E-Sports and various other growth industries.
Several of its popular portfolios include GO Chambers which is the world’s largest business chamber listing provider with over 30,000 active chambers as its members.
Outsource Guru is the global choice for Business Process Outsourcing that offers a full stack of services for all aspects of business process flow and together with Flexgigzz.com as a platform for freelancers aims to provide best services for many businesses.
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