As reported by The Lawyer, the firm currently uses the Gurgaon Service Centre just outside Delhi for business support work. However, it now intends to upscale its outsourcing to include much of the work currently done by London trainees and paralegals, including registering company charges, due diligence document reviews, preparing shell company conversions and some low-level drafting.

The firm’s managing partner, David Childs, said that the move would not affect trainee numbers, but that the number of paralegals in London would now remain flat or possibly fall as leavers are not replaced. According to The Lawyer, the firm believes that outsourcing could save it about £8 million ($16.8 million) annually in costs, and it plans to have 20 paralegals and 300 business services staff employed at the Gurgaon centre by 2009.

A spokesperson from British law firm Eversheds said that the firm was also “actively exploring” the possibility of such a strategy at the request of some of its major clients.