Outsourcing Lawyers

India Times is reporting that Indian offshore firms are courting lawyers.
Let's take a look:

Close to the rugged farmlands of Haryana near Delhi, dozens of shirt-sleeved graduates are busy at work in an office park. Much of this work at a firm called Evalueserve in the town of Gurgaon is the same as is done thousands of miles away in wood-panelled Manhattan law offices by young attorneys, some of whom command six-figure dollar salaries. Although Indian lawyers cannot argue in a U.S. court, local start-ups reckon they can take on much of the legal back-office burden, such as filing patents that mix high technology and U.S. law -- the latest in the outsourcing wave that uses high-speed telecoms and low-wage, English-speaking Indians to save Western firms hundreds of millions of dollars a year. "The only thing that can't be outsourced to India is something that requires physical presence," said Sanjay Kamlani, co-founder of Pangea3, a firm employing 23 lawyers in India and five in the United States, plus technical engineers. Kamlani insists that training Indians for U.S. law is easy. "Both the U.S. and India were British colonies and common law is British," said the U.S.-based lawyer of Indian origin whose firm has 20 clients helping in legal document management, contract drafting, legal research and patent filing. According to India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), India has so far tapped only 2-3 percent of an estimated $3-$4 billion U.S. market of "outsourceable" legal services.

One by one white collar jobs are following blue collar jobs to India and China. The following quote sums up the situation nicely: "The only thing that can't be outsourced to India is something that requires physical presence". In the meantime even jobs that do require physical presence do not necessarily go to US citizens.

The St. Petersburg Times is taking a look at Who's rebuilding New Orleans?

Locals angrily point out migrant workers, saying they're taking jobs to the exclusion of residents who can't afford to come home.

As military helicopters thumped overhead, R.J. Rouzan paced and waved his arms inside an office in City Hall.

National Guard troops that morning last week had blocked him from visiting his property in the Lower 9th Ward. Something to do with needing a permit. City officials didn't know what he was talking about.

Then, in the middle of an argument that seemed to be about red tape, Rouzan veered suddenly toward a subject that has angered many local residents.

"They let trucks full of illegal aliens in there and not the property owners?" Rouzan yelled at a weary-looking receptionist.

Immigrant workers - some in the country illegally - have been pouring into New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

While no one knows how many Hispanic workers are in New Orleans, teams of Mexican and Central American laborers drawn from around the United States appear throughout the city. Wearing white protective suits and yellow boots, they pressure wash mold-infested rooms, tear out Sheetrock, rip down soaked insulation and empty rotten shrimp from refrigerators.

Rouzan, a black owner of construction and trucking businesses, said his employees are scattered across several states. Without a place to stay, they can't come back to work. Watching Hispanic workers take similar jobs, Rouzan seethes.

"They are allowing people to come in who are getting jobs while we as homeowners who built this city, they don't let us get access to our property," Rouzan said.

At some point there is going to be a huge backlash over the loss of jobs.
You can see it coming and you can feel the heightened protectionism that will likely come of it.

Mike Shedlock / Mish
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/