Corporate legal departments and law firms alike are becoming increasingly innovative in how they pull teams together to handle various contracts and other legal matters. Getting the job done—efficiently and cost-effectively yet without compromising quality—means putting the right talent in place, whether that talent may be part of your in-house team or contracted through an alternative legal services provider (ALSP).

The flexibility of options that are available today include not only various talent mixes, but also geographic mixes. Now that the legal field has experienced a world where attorneys can work just as effectively from remote offices, it's becoming clearer that the potential for enlisting the support of a Silicon Valley attorney with IP and technology expertise to work with a legal team in Cincinnati or Indianapolis is very real. The availability and diversity of talent have never been so great.

So where do you start in building your A-team? Think about the kind of work you need to have done, the expertise and skill levels required, your budget and your time frame. Then consider which of the following three team makeups might best fulfill your needs.