Ius Juris LLC, a Florida-headquartered provider of legal process outsourcing services out of India, has won its case before the Florida bar, the professional and regulatory organization for lawyers in the state of Florida.
The Databazaar joint venture was the only LPO to make formal written and oral submissions before the bar.
According to a Databazaar statement, the Florida Bar agreed that Florida attorneys are not prohibited from engaging the services of an overseas provider, as long as the lawyers adequately address the ethical obligations they have.
The opinion of the bar’s professionals ethics committee was approved by the board of governors of The Florida Bar on July 25, 2008.
Ius Juris had made submissions addressing the relevant ethical obligations Florida attorneys have and need to comply with.
These obligations relate to the need to adequately supervise the non-lawyer, the need to act competently and exercise independent judgement, the need to preserve the client’s confidences and secrets, avoid conflicts of interest, bill for the outsourcing work appropriately, and When and where necessary, obtain advance client consent to outsourcing.
The statement said that, in approving legal outsourcing, The Florida Bar joins the findings, opinions and rulings of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (June 2006), the Bar of the City of New York (August 2006) and the San Diego County Bar Association (January 2007).
The statement quoted Kiran Chhaganlal, CEO of Ius Juris LLC, as saying: “We are particularly gratified that our submissions have been taken on board, and that Florida attorneys can now safely take advantage of the immense benefits offered by legal outsourcing. The Florida Bar Opinion makes clear the relevant ethical obligations upon Florida attorneys when outsourcing.”