Pressure on general counsel to perform a wider range of functions increased during the lengthy pandemic and continues to grow in a tightening economy. As their organizations conserve resources, in-house counsel are compelled to do more with less. And while the legal department’s routine business occupies existing staff, complex new issues involving risk assessment and mitigation demand immediate attention.
More general counsels are finding that well-established mid-market legal talent providers successfully meet the needs of legal departments seeking an alternative to the limited traditional choice between associating with a large law firm or seeking support from overpriced legal talent agencies. On-demand legal talent tailored to a project’s needs at a true cost-conscious rate means legal departments expand their capacity while maintaining lean operations; on-demand in-sourcing.
Eliminates Onboarding Costs and Training
Onboarding new full-time associates when legal talent is in high demand can mean outbidding other firms by adding bonuses and benefit packages exceeding the current operating budget. And hiring a permanent staff member adds only the level of experience they bring in their practice area, which may not meet the legal department’s needs when new, complex, or large-scale projects call for more specialized expertise.
Legal departments can’t efficiently maintain a full staff of attorneys whose areas of specialty arise only occasionally. It would require continuing operating costs far exceeding the staff’s overall value to the company. Instead, legal department heads answering for legal spend costs need to employ only the staff that provide services of continuing value to the company’s normal operations. General counsel then need to look to an outside resource when issues arise requiring either specialization or an excessive volume of work. But outdated models for outsourced legal work diminish general counsels’ ability to manage the direction and volume of project hours.
In-house legal departments are discovering they can remain lean and effective by engaging on-demand legal talent that coincides with their company’s current needs. While avoiding the fixed costs of permanent newly hired associates, or yielding project control to overpriced contracted firms, skilled attorneys with the appropriate industry exposure are immediately available through mid-market on-demand legal talent providers to perform the assigned tasks, whether in a leadership role or in support of the established in-house working group.
Provides Flexibility and Enhanced Agility
Dealing with seasonal peaks in workload, special projects of limited duration, and needing expertise in practice areas not found in-house are just some of the challenges general counsel must overcome. Enlisting trustworthy, on-demand legal talent with proficiency in the desired area only for as long as needed enables general counsel to cost-effectively increase the agility of a team tailored to meet the organization’s imperatives.
The pandemic and the normalization of working remotely illuminated new, pressing legal issues relating to data privacy, cyber-security and protection of confidential communications, workplace safety, additional regulatory compliance demands, and the development and implementation of effective diversity and inclusion policies.
Qualified, highly accomplished attorneys experienced in specialized practice areas who join with your staff can concentrate their attention on particular matters of interest to the company or expand the capacity of an in-house team to meet a burdensome workload.
Most Cost-Effective Legal Resource
Strategic outsourcing has traditionally meant retaining another, often larger, law firm to manage issues more complex, specialized, or not within the in-house legal team’s capacity. But associating with independent firms makes monitoring billable hours or duplicative efforts nearly impossible. Integrating well-practiced, special purpose, on-demand legal expertise into an existing department staff provides enhanced oversight opportunities and cost control.
The answer to the increasing demands on general counsel is using the right on-demand legal talent agency that fits within the department’s legal spend target, and that provides skilled attorneys who can fulfill specific short-term needs or fully integrate with in-house staff. But outsourcing specialized legal work to contracted lawyers through vendors applying oversized markups on legal talent undermines the organization’s efforts to control legal spend.
Whatever sector your company occupies, the right on-demand legal talent is available. Reasonably priced, mid-market, on-demand legal talent agencies maintain a deep reservoir of legal talent equipped to deliver the legal expertise and support general counsel may need for a limited period or for long-term engagement. Retaining on-demand legal talent enlarges a general counsel’s substantive capacity, manages temporary workload overflow, and achieves high productivity and cost-efficiency.
On-demand legal talent is ready for immediate enlistment and capable of performing professional legal services in sectors ranging from finance and patent law to insurance, from construction to maritime law, from tax to corporate governance, and many others. Every corporate legal department can instantly access the legal talent it needs without the expense of prolonged training or losing close project oversight and at substantial cost savings.
Like everything else in today’s economy, the legal market has digitized. New, innovative solutions to old staffing problems provide a swift transition to efficiency at a savings of time and money. Rethink traditional reliance on overpriced outsourced legal talent and find the provider that delivers the highest quality attorneys within your legal department’s budget.