At a time when the IT and associated BPO segments are busy ascertaining the impact of the US economic slump, there comes news that the legal process could actually see a surge in business.

A report in the Economic Times says that more corporate houses and investment banks from the United States may seek legal advise from the legal community for managing their affairs in a scenario where bankruptcy filings have gone up steadily in recent times.

And if lawyers are in demand, it only follows that they would pass on some work to the LPO industry back home in India. What's more the paper says that US companies are shifting their credit-crisis-related work to Indian lawyers in an obvious attempt to save whatever monies that they can.

It was further reported that leading players like Mindcrest, Quislex and Pangea3 have reported a spurt in outsourced projects over the past few months with Economic Times quoting Pangea3 VP Antony alex as saying that the work is largely related to the filing of bankruptcies in the financial services sector.

Since a lawyer costs much more in the US and the UK than in India, it is a safer bet to seek help from the LPO companies working here, the newspaper said quoting legal experts. The Indian LPO industry was estimated to be worth about Rs. 650 crore last year with over 200 small, medium and large LPOs operating from the country.