Infosys targets law firms with new legal outsourcing business

India’s second largest IT company Infosys Technologies is set to target UK and US firms through the launch of its legal process outsourcing (LPO) business.

Infosys has appointed Karlyn Stanley, a former in-house lawyer at AT&T and former partner in Washington-based technology firm Cole Raywid & Braverman (now Davis Wright and Tremaine) to head up the business in the US.

The LPO will target both large and mid-size firms, and corporates in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

“We had numerous clients ask us for the service and after studying the market for the last eight months, we decided that we wanted to go in,” Stanley told The Lawyer.

“We will initially offer four main practice areas; contract lifecycle management, patent services, litigation support and regulatory compliance services,” she added.

The new unit which will be housed in its knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) division will tap into existing clients, including law firms, that outsource their work to India and capitalise on its scale to gain footing in the market.

The LPO is currently negotiating contracts with its new clients, and is expecting to sign on a number of UK firms.

“We have had many enquiries from UK firms which are very open to the idea,” said Stanley who had been in the UK talking to firms for the last two weeks.

Infosys plans on developing the LPO to encompass a range of practices with more than 1,000 staff over the next five years.

A recent study on the Indian LPO climate by Indian research house Value Notes forecasted industry revenues from offshoring legal services in the country to reach $640m (£306m) by the end of 2010.