Futurology by its very definition is a bit of a hit-and-miss art. Back in 1914, HG Wells' fantasia The World Set Free, predicting the existence of the atomic bomb, probably felt like scaremongering. And Arthur C Clarke's 1945 proposal for the satellite certainly wasn't taken seriously at the time.

But Google's recent appointment of futurist Ray Kurzweil – best known for his theories about the moment technology will outsmart humans on its own – as director of engineering is evidence of how seriously these 'strategic thinkers' can be taken.

In the legal sphere Richard Susskind has been foretelling the demise of law firms' dependence on high-cost lawyers for low-value repetitious work for years. But despite numerous calls from influential clients – not least Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland – it seems law firms have until recently paid little heed.

In the early 2000s Lovells' 'Mexican wave' initiative to refer low-cost property work to a panel of regional firms was hailed as an innovative step to control costs. But few followed suit.

A few years later the next band of firms to dip their toe in the water emerged, with Clifford Chance providing transaction support to its lawyers from a New Delhi base. By 2009, a Legal Week survey of the top 30 UK law firms found eight firms had already carried out some form of legal process outsourcing (LPO). This first wave mostly saw centres based offshore, in hubs such as India and South Africa. Despite the interest these moves generated in the market, they certainly didn't herald a sea change.

But as the downturn continues to bite, we are now witnessing the next generation of legal process solutions, with Herbert Smith Freehills, Allen & Overy and Ashurst all setting up low-cost legal centres close to home. And our survey of the UK top 30 law firms now finds that half have some form of LPO or service centre set-up, with several others reviewing their options. 

The latest solutions for low-cost legal advice come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with several firms also capitalising on cheaper overheads in their existing regional offices, while the use of outsourcing providers remains popular in some quarters.

And while the prescience of Clarke and Wells may be tempered by less fortuitous predictions such as the millennium bug and time travel, it would seem that the tide is now turning, with firms trying to strike an effective middle ground between expensive London-centric advice and much cheaper offshore centres, which had proved a step too far for many clients.

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