Plans to encourage law firms to outsource high-volume personal injury work to South Africa have been shelved by well-known solicitor Kerry Underwood - but he has predicted that much commoditised legal work will inevitably go offshore in the coming years.


For the past two years, Mr Underwood has been trying to encourage law firms, legal expenses insurers, trade unions and claims management companies to sign up to his service, which promised a profit margin for both claimant firms and his practice on cases under the predictable costs regime, and lower costs to defendant insurers, because of the cost of qualified staff in South Africa.



Mr Underwood, managing partner of his eponymous four-partner firm in Hemel Hempstead, ascribed the failure of his venture to short-sightedness among solicitors, particularly in coming to terms with the increasing cost pressures faced by firms handling high-volume legal work. 'The legal services profession is burying its head in the sand,' he said. 'It doesn't seem to have got home to people... I thought there would be enough solicitors to see that and steal a march. I was wrong.'



He said that once the Legal Services Bill is enacted and big non-legal companies enter the market, it may well be transformed. 'The so-called commoditised work will go almost immediately to the big institutions who will offshore it... conveyancing and personal injury work will inevitably go abroad... I have absolutely no doubt that the vast majority of legal work will be offshore.'



This could have a seismic impact on the UK legal profession, said Mr Underwood, who predicted many law firms would disappear.



Underwoods South Africa will continue by targeting the increasing number of UK citizens spending the winter in the country and offering them a complete service, from conveyancing to dealing with the tax authorities. Mr Underwood said he also has an eye to the legal needs of football fans who attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.



Neil Rose