Executives walking inside gears

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.

Full in-house team. Although the cost of using your internal staff exclusively is generally higher than farming out some of the necessary tasks, there are circumstances in which this may be the best option. If you're negotiating a novel or complex deal, for example, you may want to keep it in-house. Let's say you're a pharmaceutical company and you want to do a deal with a biotech company: Their people will develop a vaccine, your people will manufacture it, and together you will distribute it globally. A contract for this kind of unique, high-potential deal, where you have no hesitation about assigning your most experienced talent team, is probably best managed in-house.

Blended team. On one hand, if you're working on a deal with a significant amount of lower-level, time-consuming work, or if you need a certain type of expertise that you don't have on staff, you may want to go with a blended team. You still keep a couple of your top attorneys on the project but ask your ALSP to contract out those lower-level tasks or bring in the specialized expertise you need.

For instance, maybe you need to put together an M&A team and, although you have highly experienced attorneys on staff, none of them has M&A expertise. A good ALSP can connect you with an expert of impeccable credentials who is available to work with your team short-term, which can help you take the deal across the finish line while mitigating your risk.

On the other hand, your ALSP partner can source lawyers with just a year or two of contract drafting experience to handle time-consuming drafting work at a low rate. The ALSP's goal in these situations is to free up your staff attorneys to do more meaningful work and help you get your contract signed, sealed and delivered in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

Fully outsourced team. Companies around the globe are finding it's much smarter to use their in-house teams for more strategic tasks and initiatives, while leaving some of the more routine review, drafting and negotiation of contracts to an outsourced model. When carefully staffed and trained by a strong ALSP, a fully outsourced team can follow well-documented, defensible, efficient and repeatable processes that ensure accurate results.

Fully outsourced teams should always be closely supervised by the ALSP, who will monitor the database and tools these lawyers are using, check the analytics to make sure they are being productive, and provide a vigorous quality control process to ensure consistency and an excellent work product across the board. ALSP teams also collaborate closely with the client, including when a matter needs to be escalated to an in-house attorney.

If you are using an outsourced team to handle the entire contracting process, this team will not only be responsible for contract review and drafting, but also the first line of defense in addressing any exceptional contracting requests during negotiations. By the time an exceptional clause is escalated to your designated in-house attorney, it will be professionally reviewed and proposed resolutions will be available. Keeping this level of connection between the outsourced team and your internal team helps ensure that the work being done on your company's behalf reflects your requirements and high standards.

Today more than ever before, innovative thought is key to building dream teams that will deliver results of the highest quality at the best price, with the least amount of risk. When legal departments and ALSPs work together, sourcing talent of varying levels of expertise and experience—and now, from various geographies—the possibilities are virtually endless.

Leslie A. Firtell is an attorney and CEO of Tower Legal Solutions, which she founded in 2007. Tower Legal Solutions is a WBENC-certified woman-owned company, providing services in legal staffing, managed review, consulting, attorney engagements, contract management, and compliance. Firtell is an active member of the Women Presidents' Organization, which is dedicated to supporting and empowering women entrepreneurs.