I for one am surprised this hasn't happened sooner, but outsourcing administrative and staff functions—if not yet paralegal and even attorney functions—just got a high-visibility boost from the entry of Hildebrandt consulting into the sector.  They'll be partnering with OfficeTiger, a firm with 1,600 staffers primarily in Chennai, India, that has already signed up firms the likes of Allen & Overy and Milbank.  As I said, so far it's staff only, but Mindcrest, another India-based firm founded by a former McGuire-Woods partner, also is gaining traction in the outsourcing sector by providing U.S.-trained Indian lawyers at rates one-fifth to one-half that of their domestic U.S. counterparts.

But will lawyers really suffer the perceived loss of control?

Dennis D'Alessandro, executive director of Dewey-Ballantine, says it's premature as far as his firm is concerned.  So could it happen down the road?  Pithily, he admits that more and more firms might try it, and once that happens, "It's a herd mentality."

Personally, I think the high-end law firms will hold out longer than the outsourcing evangelists predict.  I say this with great fondness, but in candid recognition of the combination of pride, culture, control, and plain old experience—law firms have been late adopters of almost every technological, economic, and managerial innovation, so why should outsourcing be different?

Instead, I predict the steep adoption curve will be elsewhere:  In sophisticated in-house departments.