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Unleashing the Potential of Outsourcing

By Richard Culberson |

Unleashing the Potential of Outsourcing

The following article was contributed by Richard Culberson, CEO of Moneypenny & VoiceNation, North America.

Every leader knows the importance of maximizing the potential of their people, clients, and business. It’s about recognizing the value of your resources and optimizing their efficiency. This can be achieved by streamlining, leveraging technology, and investing in people, however, one solution that is gaining momentum in the legal world is outsourcing.  

Traditionally, businesses used outsourcing to save money by obtaining help with non-essential administrative tasks, thereby avoiding the costs of hiring and training employees and purchasing equipment and it’s been proven to be an effective way to control expenses. 

However, today, Outsourcing 2.0 is more than just a cost-saving measure. It is about collaborating to grow, thrive and maximize value.  

Take the humble phone call as an example. Whether it is a new inquiry or an existing client, every call is important and ensuring that they are answered, and opportunities are never missed is particularly crucial for law firms, whatever their size. On average one in 10 calls to a law firm is from someone making a new inquiry. If they go unanswered that is business lost, or worse, it is business that goes to the competition.  

Outsourcing your calls could help you never miss a call, avoid interruptions, and support business continuity. For example, it can allow your firm to operate seamlessly, whether it is a busy day in court, meetings, an office move, or a holiday. Furthermore, it should be able to work as a faultless extension of your business, so that no one knows you have a partner to answer your calls, for example.  

The same goes for other functions. Marketing and IT tasks can take away time that attorneys could be spending on billable hours. Just like you would hire an expert in a field that is out of your legal realm, outsourcing can support law firms to save valuable time, manage overflow, reduce costs, improve the litigation process, and allow employees to focus on key tasks. 

As a business leader, you understand your business’s strengths and areas where it needs support better than anyone else, so it is logical to look at ways you can focus on these strengths and seek assistance for other aspects.  Especially when you consider the tangible benefits that outsourcing can deliver to businesses, all while making financial sense. The key is finding the right partner. 

So, how can you ensure that outsourcing works for your business? 

Outsourcing will only work in the long term if both parties approach it as a partnership. It’s all about collaboration. With commitment and effective communication from both sides, long-term success can be achieved, however, it does require investment of time to get it right; treating it as a one-time deal will limit its potential. 

So, it’s all about finding your perfect partner, one that aligns well with your business, not only in terms of skills and experience, but also in terms of culture and values. This requires thorough research and careful evaluation. 

There is no doubt that outsourcing can help you to unleash your law firm’s potential by allowing you to focus on your core competencies while delegating other activities to external experts. This can lead to increased efficiency, cost savings, and access to specialized skills and resources that may not be available in-house freeing up time and resources to drive growth and also provide the flexibility to scale operations up or down based on business needs, making it a powerful tool for unlocking and maximizing a company’s potential. 

But you must approach it with the right attitude if you want to unleash the potential of your people and your business. Getting the right partnership and outsourcing can serve as a strategic tool to help law firms reach new heights of success in 2025 and beyond. 

Richard Culberson, CEO of Moneypenny & VoiceNation, North America, a global leader in outsourced call answering, live chat, receptionist teams and customer service solutions for business large and small, handling over 20 million calls and chats for thousands of organizations. Moneypenny has an award-winning culture, with over 1,250 people across the US and UK. At the centre of this culture is a vision that if you combine awesome people with leading-edge technology, you will supercharge your people and your business, delivering gold standard customer experience and service. Richard is passionate about building teams that leverage new business models and technologies, driving growth and scaling business.

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Richard Culberson

Richard Culberson

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King’s Speech Omits PACCAR Fix, Funding Industry Voices “Deep Disappointment”

By John Freund |

The UK government's annual legislative agenda set out in the King's Speech this week made no mention of the long-promised litigation funding bill, leaving the industry's preferred reversal of the Supreme Court's 2023 PACCAR ruling unresolved. The omission comes despite a December commitment from ministers to legislate on PACCAR and introduce a new regulatory framework for funders, and it has drawn sharp rebukes from across the third-party funding sector.

As reported by Legal Futures, counsel and funders called the absence a setback for the competitiveness of England and Wales as a litigation hub. White & Case partner Robert Wheal said the government had "recognised that uncertainty caused by the PACCAR ruling risked undermining the competitiveness of England and Wales as a global hub for commercial litigation and arbitration," adding that it was "disappointing that time has not been found for the necessary legislation."

Jeremy Marshall, chief investment officer at Winward Litigation Finance, warned that the continuing ambiguity is eroding investor appetite. "Uncertainty is unhelpful for any investor and litigation funding is no different," he said, noting that the UK's premium standing in global legal services depends on credible funding rails for both consumer and commercial claims.

Trade bodies including the Association of Litigation Funders and the International Legal Finance Association voiced "deep disappointment" at the omission. The Ministry of Justice is reportedly waiting to attach the funding legislation to a suitable vehicle bill later in the parliamentary session.

ITC Disclosure Proposal Would Force Litigation Funding Transparency in Section 337 Cases

By John Freund |

The U.S. International Trade Commission has proposed a rule that would require parties in Section 337 intellectual property investigations to disclose their litigation funding arrangements, including the identities of entities that hold financial interests in or exercise control over case strategy and settlement decisions. The stated objective is to surface potential conflicts of interest and bring greater clarity to a venue that has become a primary forum for patent enforcement against imports.

As reported by Winston & Strawn, partner Alexander Ott discussed the proposal with Law360 and framed the disclosure regime as a tool that supports the agency's statutory mandate. "The commission's goal is to defend U.S. domestic industry," Ott said, making it important for the ITC to know "all the parties with a financial stake."

Ott suggested that commissioners could use funding information to weigh exclusion-order remedies more carefully, evaluating "how their decision helps or hurts the domestic industry ultimately." The argument lands inside a broader U.S. policy debate over whether mandatory funding disclosure should be confined to specific dockets or extended across federal courts, an issue currently before the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules.

If adopted, the ITC rule would mark the first formal, agency-level disclosure mandate aimed squarely at funded patent cases, layering a transparency obligation that plaintiffs and funders have resisted in district court litigation. The proposal is expected to draw written comments from funders, the patent bar, and large importers before the commission finalizes any change.

Burford Capital Shareholders Approve All AGM Resolutions, Back Dividend and Capital Authorities

By John Freund |

Burford Capital shareholders approved all 16 resolutions at the company's 2026 annual general meeting, ratifying the board's director slate, a final dividend, and a full suite of capital and share-issuance authorities. Roughly 70% of the company's outstanding shares were represented at the May 13 meeting, with every resolution clearing by a comfortable majority.

According to Burford's Form 8-K filing, shareholders re-elected all seven directors standing, with support ranging from 84.78% for John Sievwright to 96.90% for CEO Christopher Bogart. The board's $0.0625-per-share final dividend was approved with 96.73% support and is payable on June 12, 2026 to holders of record on May 22.

The advisory say-on-pay vote drew 72.92% backing, the lowest level of support among the governance items, while the reappointment of KPMG as auditor was nearly unanimous at 99.89%. Shareholders also authorized the board to issue ordinary shares for general corporate purposes (96.23%), conduct market repurchases (98.01%), and disapply pre-emption rights for both general share issuances (96.90%) and acquisitions (96.52%).

The vote arrives weeks after Burford's Q1 disclosures detailing a $2.4 billion YPF-related write-down and a strategic pivot toward a more diversified portfolio. Broad shareholder support for the capital framework gives management latitude to commit fresh capital, buy back stock, or finance acquisitions as it executes that repositioning.