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Chalk & cheese?

26 January 2012 / Catherine Gannon
Issue: 7498 / Categories: Features , Profession , Marketing
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Catherine Gannon trumpets the business benefits of outsourcing

 

Private practice lawyers should be comfortable with the concept of outsourcing. Whenever we receive an instruction it is because clients recognise they need a service that is outside their area of competence, or that their time is better spent on other matters. 

This sounds self-evident, but for some reason we hesitate to outsource aspects of our own business. We often keep marketing and public relations in-house despite the fact that the skills and experience required to implement a successful marketing, or similar, are quite different to those needed in day-to-day legal practice. 

Until seven months ago, my firm had kept its marketing function in-house. Since taking the plunge last summer, however, our experience of outsourcing it has been entirely positive—producing a significant cost saving, and driving an increase in instructions. Why was the decision not taken earlier to outsource? There are a number of reasons, none of which stands scrutiny. 

The first can be traced back to the way that lawyers are hardwired
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Muckle LLP—Rachael Chapman

Muckle LLP—Rachael Chapman

Sports, education and charities practice welcomes senior associate

Ellisons—Carla Jones

Ellisons—Carla Jones

Partner and head of commercial litigation joins in Chelmsford

Freeths—Louise Mahon

Freeths—Louise Mahon

Firm strengthens Glasgow corporate practice with partner hire

NEWS
One in five in-house lawyers suffer ‘high’ or ‘severe’ work-related stress, according to a report by global legal body, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
The Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO’s) plea for a budget increase has been rejected by the Law Society and accepted only ‘with reluctance’ by conveyancers
Overcrowded prisons, mental health hospitals and immigration centres are failing to meet international and domestic human rights standards, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has warned
Two speedier and more streamlined qualification routes have been launched for probate and conveyancing professionals
Workplace stress was a contributing factor in almost one in eight cases before the employment tribunal last year, indicating its endemic grip on the UK workplace
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