Actually, usually the tasks assigned to Indian lawyers could hardly be classified as "important." It's mainly doc review work.
But in the event research is what's needed, our students will add value to the raw research, not just send them some printouts.
Yes. We all understand the concept of writing legal research memos. However, in order for a student to do this effectively, they will need Lexis or Westlaw. And they will need to do so
more than an attorney who is familiar with the field. For example, if I got a criminal case in Missouri I may have to 1) familiarize myself with the facts of the case, 2) familiarize myself with Missouri sources, 3) probably pull up a Missouri treatise for an overview, 4) look up the annotated statutes, 5) review recent cases interpreting the statutes, and 6) run a few searches looking for cases with similar fact patterns and issues. THEN you write it up. Honestly, I feel bad for the poor schmuck in Missouri whose lawyer did him the grave disservice of outsourcing the work to a law
student who couldn't use Lexis or Westlaw. Any research project of this kind, even for small matters, would
require the use of Lexis or Westlaw.
The point of my comments is that 1) you know that research of any value would
require Lexis/Westlaw, 2) you are not providing those research services, 3) you know your "independent" contractors will have to use Lexis/Westlaw to fulfill their project assignments effectively, and 4) you are covering your ass with statements on the message board, but are giving the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" and you just clearly could care less.
FWIW, any business plan that involves posting on the Law School Discussion board is going to get trashed by me. But I would have a lot less of a problem with your crappy business plan if it wasn't inherently unethical. Get some capital and purchase a flat rate Lexis or Westlaw package for use by your contractors. Or bill your clients for westlaw or lexis time that your contractors spend on the projects. Either way, building stealing into your business plan and exposing your contractors (and clients) to unnecessary risks is pretty dirty.