Unlocking Cost Savings with Short-Term Staffing

In the face of fluctuating economic conditions, businesses of all varieties continue to grapple with various challenges, including having the resources and capacity to get work done. The legal industry, while resilient relative to certain other industries, has nonetheless felt the impact of market shifts. Economic influences, such as a slowdown in the global M&A market and contraction in the U.S. tech industry, have led many law firms and in-house legal departments to resize their operations. Short-term legal staffing offers a solution to these challenges. This approach is an increasingly vital strategy for many organizations, providing flexibility, significant cost savings, and access to an expansive pool of expertise on an as-needed basis.

The Versatility of Short-Term Legal Staffing

Short-term legal staffing involves the employment of contract attorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals on a temporary basis. It offers law firms and corporations a dynamic solution to managing their legal workforce, providing an ability to scale up or down in response to fluctuating workloads, client demands, or special projects.

Short-term staffing enables organizations to navigate a rapidly changing environment, providing them with the agility to respond to evolving client needs, pursue unique project opportunities, tap specialized talent, and adapt to shifts in the market or the industry. In economically uncertain times, this versatility is especially valuable, enabling organizations to pivot as necessary and maintain their operations effectively. It's also about people—legal professionals who are seeking diverse work experiences, who want the flexibility a short-term role offers. These professionals bring significant experience and expertise, ensuring that short-term staffing is more than a stopgap measure—it's a strategic tool.

To fulfill their short-term staffing needs, many law firms and corporate legal departments turn to companies like Lexitas who specialize in identifying and placing talented legal professionals who are interested in the flexibility that a short-term role offers.

In the past, a requirement that a contract lawyer work on-site was a big impediment to matching people to opportunities. However, the embrace of remote work, as well as advances in technology, have helped knock down the geographic limitations that have historically served as barriers between legal talent and legal demand.

Unlocking Cost Savings with Short-Term Staffing

Another significant advantage of short-term legal staffing is its potential for substantial cost savings. Traditional full-time employment involves a range of costs, from benefits and long-term salaries to overhead expenses. Short-term staffing provides a cost-effective alternative. It allows organizations to manage their budgets more judiciously, a particularly crucial factor during economically challenging periods. By staffing up when needed, organizations can avoid fixed costs and reduce unnecessary expenditures. These savings can then be reallocated to other strategic areas, bolstering the organization’s ability to manage critical priorities.

Gaining Access to Specialized Expertise

Short-term staffing is not just about numbers; it's about knowledge. It provides corporations and law firms with access to a broad range of expertise on an as-needed basis. Whether they require specialized knowledge for a complex case or project, need to bolster their existing workforce to manage an increased workload, or want to explore a new practice area, short-term staffing offers a solution. It ensures that organizations can respond effectively to, in the case of a law firm, diverse client needs, and in the case of a company, urgent internal priorities.

As a leading provider of top legal talent, we can help you find well-qualified contract attorneys
and paralegals for your short and long-term contract assignments.

Harnessing the Power of Short-Term Legal Staffing: A Success Story

Consider the case of one of our clients, an international financial services company, that engaged Lexitas to provide a high-level corporate attorney to join its legal team in Asia for a long-term project. The challenge was to provide a corporate attorney with a combination of mergers & acquisitions, private equity, and finance experience, as well as the professionalism necessary to manage and execute tasks at all levels of the organization.

Lexitas helped conduct a global search and delivered an attorney with demonstrable experience with mergers & acquisitions, divestments, finance, joint ventures, and capital markets, and a strong knowledge base of Asia's regulations. This attorney's past experience as a secondee with a leading global investment bank and a distinguished career at all levels of corporate and firm life equipped them to work effectively across various business units and geographies.

Stationed in our client's Hong Kong office, the attorney brought a wealth of experience and a dedicated work ethic to the role, providing a superior work product. Over two years, the attorney worked alongside our client to help with overflow needs and special projects, seamlessly integrating with the client's team. The result was a cost savings of $1.1 million versus large law firm rates in Asia. The attorney was ultimately hired permanently by the client, a testament to the efficacy of short-term staffing as a flexible, cost-effective, and high-quality solution.

Read the full case study here.

Conclusion: Embracing the Power of Flexibility

In a fluctuating economic landscape, adaptability is key. Short-term legal staffing offers a powerful tool for law firms and corporations to navigate these challenges, providing flexibility, significant cost savings, and access to an extensive pool of expert talent on demand. By embracing this dynamic approach to staffing, organizations can not only weather current economic uncertainties but also position themselves for future success, primed to respond rapidly and effectively to any shifts in demand. As your organization navigates these challenging times, consider the value that short-term legal staffing could bring. Contact Lexitas for assistance with your legal staffing needs.

Meron Hewis is the President of the Legal Talent Outsourcing Division of Lexitas. Ms. Hewis has over 20 years of experience in legal consulting, project management, and alternative legal talent outsourcing solutions. She is a thought leader in the industry, providing unique legal solutions and designing the operations of various legal programs internationally.

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