Insourcing vs. Outsourcing
A more innovative approach is required to address the collision of a tight legal talent market and growing cost pressures
With the legal talent market under pressure and growing economic uncertainty, Australian businesses are looking for alternatives to manage their legal spend and reduce reliance on outsourcing to traditional law firms.
Recruitment is a valid strategy to cope with overflow but fails to recognise the current state of the talent market, and risks legal teams becoming subsumed by transactional BAU work.
“The market for legal talent is red-hot,” confirms Steven Nunn, Managing Partner APAC at Carlyle Kingswood Global : “Regulatory changes, advances in technology and increasing risk aversion, mean the available roles for permanent, contractor and secondee legal roles are at an all-time high. Specialist practitioners in Privacy, Cyber Insurance and Legal Technology, are particularly scarce and it is challenging to attract and retain them.”
A more innovative legal engagement model
Law Squared Founder + Director, Demetrio Zema, sees a direct correlation between the state of the legal talent market and growing cost pressure, with a significant uptake in the firm’s Law Squared as a Service (LSaaS) offering.
An innovative managed service model, LSaaS, offers clients cost certainty and on-demand access to all of Law Squared’s practice groups, at a fixed monthly cost.
Developed as a direct response to General Counsels’ need for overflow support, or short-term cover, Demetrio says of the LSaaS model: “It allows the Law Squared team to act as a true extension of yours, providing specialised support with the responsiveness, knowledge and scalability you would expect of your own people,” he says.
Each LSaaS engagement is led by a dedicated Relationship Manager to ensure Law Squared lawyers integrate seamlessly into the client’s business to support project or BAU matters, whilst leveraging technology to increase efficiency and transparency of intake, workflow and reporting.
Even where clients intend to recruit in-house lawyers, lengthy delays in finding the ‘right fit’ can jeopardise in-house legal strategy and BAU deliverables.
“More than ever, GCs are expected to deliver higher value work, but the collision of tight talent market and shifting expectations, will negatively impact this,” says Demetrio.
The flexibility and focus to allow you to get on with higher value work
LSaaS client and Principal Legal Counsel APAC at GBG, Justin Ghattas, agrees: “We have budget for an in-house legal role, but the recruitment process has taken far longer than we hoped. By utilising LSaaS for 6 months, we have not only been able to maintain our service delivery agreements with the business, but we’ve been able to accelerate outcomes.”
Justin adds: “Law Squared also took a very commercially sensible approach to the type of work we do, so it didn’t feel like we were engaging external counsel that may not understand the difference between pure legal advice, and legal advice that has commercial application in a fast-paced space”.
The five factors driving clients to choose LSaaS
A quick poll with recent LSaaS clients reveals their decision to engage Law Squared usually boils down to five key factors:
Cost Savings: Hiring an internal lawyer can be expensive as it not only involves the cost of salaries and benefits, but also other expenses like office space, equipment, training and recruitment fees. Under the LSaaS model, clients can access legal services on an as-needed basis, which can result in significant cost savings given the fixed cost fee model.
Expertise: With specialists across key areas of law, including Privacy, Employment, Disputes and legal technology, clients can access legal advice and services from practitioners with specific expertise in their legal matter, rather than relying on an internal resource to have all the knowledge and experience.
Flexibility: From time to time, significant projects or matters will necessitate additional or specialist legal support: “When that support demands a range of specialist skills, appointing a single full time resource, may do little to address the core issue,” explains Demetrio.
LSaaS clients enjoy the flexibility to scale up or down as needed, including limiting the Law Squared engagement until such time as an internal resource is recruited and onboarded.
Efficiency: Law Squared has developed streamlined processes and systems to deliver legal services efficiently and effectively. Our clients can expect a faster turnaround time for everyday legal work, allowing them to focus on core business activities.
Access to and use of superior technology: Law Squared adapts to clients’ technology systems, or where preferred, will utilise Law Squared’s own leading edge tech stack, such as document automation and contract management software, to provide efficient, compliant services.
In addition to getting exposure to the latest in legal technology, clients are also able to take advantage of Law Squared’s newest practice group, Digital + Innovation, to optimise legal operations and technology.
A smarter alternative
With the legal talent market showing no signs of cooling, General Counsel will remain under pressure leverage technology and get more from their external legal providers to make up the shortfall. Demetrio believes LSaaS is the optimal solution: “LSaaS is a smarter alternative for businesses looking to move away from high cost, traditional, external engagement models,” says Demetrio, “Freeing GCs and their teams up to focus on higher order business priorities.”
If you’re curious to learn more about LSaaS, or discuss how we can support your business achieve more, please reach out via [email protected]
At Law Squared, we're here to help and to provide a true option for businesses to consider away from the traditional norms of external law firm engagement!