This topic has been addressed here before — & undoubtedly will be again — but it’s a key subject to watch as the scope of outsourced legal work continues to be defined. See today’s article, Legal outsourcing – bubble or reality?, from the Economic Times (publication of Indiatimes):
"Legal outsourcing is different from any other knowledge process outsourcing in a fundamental sense. In most jurisdictions lawyers have to be qualified and enrolled in order to advise their clients. Lawyers have to be licensed to practice law (within a certain jurisdiction). Hence legally, one cannot advise, as a lawyer, on laws one is not licensed to practice."
[snip]
"Still the work is of a secretarial nature and includes patent drafting, legal research, contract review and monitoring. However, experts are hoping to receive high-end sophisticated contracts, which require a strong legal base of international standards." (Emphasis added.)
Hmm, "secretarial" or paralegal?