With clients demanding smarter processes for their legal spend and the GFC resulting in an increase in transparency and frankness about cost cutting, the push for outsourcing legal work will only get stronger in the coming years. By 2020, it may be a key business-winning strategy.

International outsourcing provider Exigent recently told Lawyers Weekly that it has a strong client list in Australia - many of whom are not yet willing to go public with their decision to outsource various support services.

But loud and proud clients of Exigent include Swaab Attorneys, Herbert Geer and Lavan Legal - all clients who see driving down costs and internal processing requirements as a means to offer more effective services to clients. Indeed, outsourcing may very well become a necessary tool for law firms wishing to secure the business of large corporates.

The head of dispute resolution litigation at Pinsent Mason, Nigel Kissack, recently explained his firm's view to The Lawyer: "Does it need some of the best brains in Britain to do that [support] work? We wanted to offer an alternative to our clients - the same work and the same quality, but at a lower cost."