Draft article: awaiting review and approval by Elmoné Smith.
Short answerWhen preparation work, rather than legal judgement, is what is holding files back: research, chronologies, document review and file administration piling up around deadlines. Overflow support adds capacity for defined tasks without a permanent appointment.
Signs your practice may need overflow support
- Deadlines bunch together and preparation is done late at night.
- A document-heavy matter is taking time away from every other file.
- Attorney time is going on sorting, indexing and summarising.
- Research for consultations or opinions keeps being postponed.
- You are hesitating to take on new work because of short-term capacity.
What can be outsourced
- Focused legal research on an identified question
- File analysis and concise file summaries
- Chronologies and matter summaries
- Document and evidence review and organisation
- Preparation for consultations and meetings
- Defined file administration and overflow tasks
What stays with the instructing attorney
The client mandate, professional oversight and the responsibility for reviewing and approving the work before it is used stay with the instructing attorney. So does any work reserved for practising legal practitioners.
How to make outsourcing work
- Define the task. State the question or output you need in one or two sentences.
- Indicate the volume. An approximate page or file count helps with scoping and pricing.
- Set the deadline, leaving time for your own review.
- Specify the format: a memo, a table, an indexed bundle or a chronology.
- Clear conflicts and confidentiality before sharing file material.
- Review before use. Treat the output as work prepared for your consideration.
Outsourcing compared with hiring
A permanent appointment makes sense when the extra workload is steady. When it comes in peaks, or is tied to particular matters, outsourcing defined tasks lets you add capacity only when you need it, at a fee agreed in advance.
This article is general information about South African law and practice. It is not advice on your particular situation. ESLC provides consultancy and support services and does not provide court representation.