Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Offshore Services To Lawyers?
Offshore Services To Lawyers is a business to business legal outsourcing company which provides quality legal solutions to law firms and corporate legal departments. Our services include Legal and Business Research, Legal Drafting, Paralegal Services, Patent Review, Document Review, Database Creation and Maintenance and Word Processing.

2. Where and how does Offshore Services To Lawyers conduct its research?
We hire some of the brightest attorneys in India to conduct legal research and draft legal memoranda and briefs. Our Research Specialists generally conduct their research on LexisNexis, Westlaw and the Internet.

3. Can you cover any jurisdiction?
Yes, we research issues arising under the laws of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and foreign countries.

4. How is quality controlled at Offshore Services To Lawyers?
Offshore Services To Lawyers' U.S.-based Legal Research Attorneys thoroughly review the work product for accuracy and proper format. All our Indian Research Specialists have excellent English writing skills, graduate from the top Indian law schools and have at least three years of legal practice experience. Furthermore, all our Research Specialists have received six months of hands-on training in legal research and writing from a qualified U.S. attorney.

5. How do you protect confidential information?
Offshore Services To Lawyers goes to great lengths to ensure confidentiality of its clients' information. Offshore Services To Lawyers and its employees are under the same obligation to preserve the confidences and secrets of your clients as your employees, associates and outside counsel. We keep all information disclosed by our clients in connection with a project strictly confidential.

6. Is the work product of Offshore Services To Lawyers covered by the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work product doctrine?
Yes. Confidential information given by an attorney to any other expert witness, insurer, paralegal or Offshore Services To Lawyers retains its privileged character where the purpose is to aid the requesting attorney in giving legal advice to the client. All client communications transmitted to Offshore Services To Lawyers are for the purpose of furthering the client's interest and assisting the attorney in his or her responsibility to provide the best possible legal advice to the client. In addition, the attorney work product doctrine applies to communications between the requesting attorneys and Offshore Services To Lawyers' employees.

7. Do you conduct conflict checks?
Yes. At the time a research project is submitted, Offshore Services To Lawyers collects sufficient information to perform a conflict-of-interest check. Offshore Services To Lawyers strictly avoids any question of conflict of interest by declining employment if it has provided services to opposing counsel on the same case.

8. How do you charge for your services?
We usually charge for our professional services on the basis of the time spent by the particular fee earner in working on the particular matter. Each attorney and member of our support staff records his or her time on a daily basis, showing for each case the number of hours worked and a brief description of the work performed. Our hourly rates include all copying and telephone expenses and any online research costs. Our hourly rate schedule is available on request.

9. How do you bill?
We generally ask that clients pay an upfront retainer equal to half the expected project cost and then satisfy the remainder of the balance upon project completion, or in the case of ongoing projects, at specified intervals.