A number of magic circle, ‘top 50’ and specialist boutique firms are on the brink of signing deals to outsource legal work to India, according to legal process outsourcing (LPO) company CPA Global.

Chris Veator, executive vice president at CPA North America, told the Gazette that the company plans to invest $50m (£29m) in its Indian outsourcing business. ‘We see this as being a $1bn (£575m) market in the next three to four years,’ he said.

‘Building the infrastructure requires significant investment. We may grow by acquisition, because it’s a highly fragmented industry.’

CPA previously revealed plans to increase its 450-strong team of Indian lawyers nearly eightfold to 3,500 (see [2008] Gazette, 2 October, 6).

Veator said: ‘The US is 12 months ahead of the UK in terms of adopting these services, but the bigger deals [for us] are in the UK. The interest from UK firms has gone up threefold between the first and second quarter this year.’

He said CPA was in ‘very advanced’ discussions with the firms, which did not wish to be named.