Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques has signed a legal process outsourcing (LPO) agreement with Integreon.

The deal, announced today (27 October), will see Integreon becoming Mallesons' preferred supplier of legal process outsourcing. It will take on low-level legal work including document review for the firm.

Most of the work will come from Mallesons' Australian offices but the service will also be available to the firm's UK and Asia bases. Most of the work will be outsourced to Integreon's offices in India.

Mallesons managing partner Tony O'Malley said: "This Australian first signals a watershed in the way legal services in corporate Australia are provided."

"This agreement will deliver the sourcing alternatives and efficiency that our clients are demanding, and enable us to maintain the oversight and control necessary to deliver the level of legal advice for which we are known. LPO is already common practice elsewhere in the world, and it's time that our clients have access to, and benefit from this innovative business practice."

Integreon has already struck both LPO and business support deals with many firms in the UK. Legal Week reported earlier this month that Linklaters had signed a deal with Integreon which will see the outsourcer supply paralegals to support Linklaters' plans to increase its use of paralegals and send some volume legal work outside London to Colchester.

Most notably, CMS Cameron McKenna has outsourced much of its back office support function to Integreon.

News of Mallesons outsourcing agreement comes after it emerged this summer that the firm is in talks with Chinese law firm King & Wood about a potential tie-up.

Mallesons' partners gave broad support to a deal during a meeting in Sydney last month, paving the way for further discussions between the two firms.