Just as every other industry was hit hard by the economic downturn, the law profession faces the same turmoil. With less money to spend, top American law firms cut hiring altogether or moved to a lower-tier pay system for new associates. In an effort to streamline and cut costs, corporations reduced their legal departments. Lawyers at legal temp companies see about one-tenth of the salary that board-certified lawyers hired for document reviews would have seen ten years ago. However, a recent turn has produced a new outlet for hiring lawyers and it comes from an unexpected place (Timmons).
At one point, outsourcing seemed to simply add to the demise of the American economy, but now these outsourcing firms are reaching out to American lawyers to handle their legal affairs. Of course salaries are not where they used to be; in fact, salaries for outsourced work typically stays within the $50,000 to $80,000 range, but these salaries are far better than no salary at all. Because lawyers have agreed to work within these salary ranges, something that would have been unheard of before the economic crisis, they are more appealing than overseas lawyers (Timmons).
"If we're going to deliver a fantastic client experience, the only way to do it is to have an onshore facility," said Sanjay Kamlani, co-chief executive of Pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm with offices in New York and Mumbai. A recently bought office in the Dallas suburb allows Pangea3 to employ lawyers who will work during United States business hours on tasks that would have been difficult to perform outside the country, whether it is because of logistics or American law - like writing and vetting export control documents, military contracts, and some patent reviews (Timmons). .
Prior to the new venture, companies were widely contracting lawyers overseas who would work for much less pay. Aashish Sharma, who graduated from law school in India, is one of the many foreigners who were hired by companies that sought after English-speaking lawyers to do legal work at a small fraction of the cost of hiring American lawyers.