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Law graduates opt for outsourcing firms
ANUSHA Subramanian
Mumbai, July 29
ANKITA MULLICK (26),'a graduate from Symbiosis Society's Law College in Pune, started her career with a law firm in 2002, focusing on litigation and aircraft law. Tired of merely carrying files and docu¬menting case papers, the ambitious Ankita was looking for something more.
Ankita probably never imagined that, armed with a law degree, she would find more stimulating work at a business process outsourcing unit.
Today, she works with Pangea3, a Mum-bai-based specialist in high-end legal out¬sourcing support services and Ankita has moved up the value chain as far as job content goes. It's been six months at Pangea3 and she is now a specialist in high-end legal research.
Legal outsourcing firms are opening up better avenues for young law graduates and they pay more too. Today most legal outsourcing firms have lawyers from some of the leading law firms.
Corporate firms such as Infosys Tech¬nologies, Euronet Services India, Evalue Serve, Lexite.com, to name a fn software engineers manage to get at least a 40-50 per cent hike in their salaries, said industry sources. A software engineer, who is recruited from a campus could get Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum; the same graduate, if recruited by a legal outsourcing firm, could get anywhere between Rs 3 to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, said an HR consultant.
City-based lawyers, on condition of anonymity, said that a law firm could of¬fer anywhere between Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 to a fresher and it could extend up to Rs 40,000, depending on his school.
"When I graduated, I thought litigation was the only option. Then I heard about outsourcing. I realised I wanted to work in a niche field," says Ankita.
Others such as Rahul Jindal, who is a software engineer is in the patents team and works with patents attorneys, says: "Over the years, the job in a software firm gets very boring. It does not offer you too much."
Senior partners and practice heads of law firms say that one cannot compare law firms to outsourcing firms. Law firms indulge in high-end legal consultation whereas outsourcing firms are still trying to gain ground and are doing low-end work that a para-legal would do in the US.
