As the legal services industry becomes increasingly competitive, there is a growing demand on law firms to adopt innovative approaches to deliver legal services more efficiently and cost effectively.

Webber Wentzel’s newly launched in-house legal process outsourcing (LPO) capability, named the Webber Wentzel Legal Services Centre (LSC), is an important component of the firm’s client-centric service delivery approach, optimising the right combination of resourcing and technology for each matter. This initiative forms part of the firm's Client Service Efficiency Programme, which focuses on efficient and cost effective delivery of legal services throughout the matter lifecycle.

The LSC is designed to improve efficiency while providing a guarantee of the high standards that Webber Wentzel clients expect from the firm. It provides support for lawyers on high volume, repetitive or routine legal tasks, freeing up their time to focus on more complex tasks.

The LSC will offer a range of skills to provide varying levels of support to Webber Wentzel clients and lawyers, including the provision of support from legal assistants (paralegals) within specific practice areas. It is a flexible offering as, using a database of Webber Wentzel trained resources, it can be used to mobilise a large team at short notice. It also offers legal project management resources, when and where needed.

"Our vision is for the LSC - through its focus on efficiency and cost effectiveness - to fundamentally change the way legal services are delivered in Sub-Saharan Africa, for the benefit of our clients, our firm, our lawyers and future legal professionals," says Celia Pienaar, Legal Project Manager at Webber Wentzel (and former Head of Legal at Exigent, a global legal services outsourcing provider) who will be overseeing the LSC initiative.

"The LSC initiative is another way that we are incorporating global best practice in the way we deliver legal services for the benefit of our clients. We are continually exploring new ways to enhance our clients' experience and the value that we add to their business" says Sally Hutton, Managing Partner at Webber Wentzel.