The outsourcing of legal processes – and potentially higher-end services – elicits much emotion; the terminology also generates significant confusion. On the emotional side, outsourcing could profoundly change the traditional structure of Western law firms as work that trainee and younger lawyers traditionally cut their teeth on disappears to cheaper overseas jurisdictions. Confusion reigns as lawyers often immediately equate outsourcing with ‘off-shoring’, in other words, sending legal work to those cheaper overseas jurisdictions. But, as our survey of leading global in-house lawyers suggests, so far, at least, the temptation is not to stray too far from home.