“Firm partners are commonly consulted when a company is considering shipping tasks overseas because, whether it’s patent research or litigation support, they have to work with the product that offshore shops like UnitedLex Corp. or Pangea3 LLC deliver.” The quote comes from an article of Corp. Counsel, Dec. 22, 2008 (David Hechler)
I have not heard that law department lawyers “consult” with partners at firms if the in-house group decides to use legal research firms, consultants, litigation support vendors, legal writing specialists, forensic experts, or other services. Ultimately, an in-house lawyer has to vouch for the quality of the work done by the unbundled service provider, including offshore legal-service providers. Outside counsel may have views about any of those resources, but I certainly hope they do not feel they must routinely and duplicatively review their work for quality.