Page 92 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (q)
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Reuters’ Legal Managed Services, and MLA’s own highly specialized, temporary legal staffing
solutions provider, the Solutions Practice Group (SPG), are capturing increased market share and
will continue to have a major influence on how legal work will be performed and disaggregated.
Major consulting firms are also reentering the legal market and looking to capture some of this
revenue.
“Since the recession, businesses across the country have been pushing their employees to
do more with less,” explains Inside Counsel’s Ashley Post, regarding why temporary staffing has
become crucial for companies, in Strategies for Leaner Legal Departments: Part 1. She adds,
“Members of corporate legal departments have encountered the same challenge. Facing heightened
performance expectations and heavier workloads, in-house lawyers and their staffs have had to
alter their workplaces to conform to leaner budgets — all while maintaining productivity and
excellence.”12
Law firms are still learning how to effectively use the temporary staffing model, as
described by Law360 reporter Erin Coe in 5 Mistakes Law Firms Make with Temp Lawyers:
Firms are increasingly relying on temporary attorneys to scale up legal teams on
large matters while controlling costs for clients, but experts say they could take
more initiative in offering these lawyers as a staffing option when pitching for
business and could improve how they integrate them into the legal team.13
Coe includes perspective from MLA partner and global head of MLA’s In-House and
Solutions Practice Groups, Gregory Richter, who said: “Big firms have to be mindful that
disaggregating workloads is something clients will demand of them. Clients want different price
points for different levels of work and different people delivering that work. Firms have to think
outside the box and do things differently in this new-normal environment we are in.”14
MLA launched its Solutions Practice Group with the goal of finding ways for law firm and
corporate leaders to meet evolving needs with appropriate staffing and up-to-date solutions. The
methodology and service makes it easier to find highly-qualified lawyers and legal professionals
for substantive assignments on a cost-effective, contractual basis. A partnership with the SPG and
others in this space provides corporate and law firm clients with the ability to maintain quality of
work while enabling it to better manage staffing needs thus increasing efficiency and profitability.
Staffing arrangements in this area include long-term, on-site temporary placements; flexible work
arrangements; and project staffing for peak periods or interim needs.
Whether the position is at a law firm or in-house at a company, legal recruiters and staffers
guide firms and companies to choose the ideal candidate for future business success. The truly
adept legal recruiting and staffing firms are those that are also prepared to adapt to change and are
skillful at doing so.
Changes to the Legal Landscape Affect Recruiting
Supply and demand accounts for a more competitive legal job market. While the 2008
recession certainly took away legal positions, law students still continue to graduate and look for
jobs.
12 Ashley Post, Strategies for Leaner Legal Departments, Part 1, INSIDE COUNSEL (Feb. 26, 2013).
13 Erin Coe, 5 Mistakes Law Firms Make with Temp Lawyers, LAW360 (Aug. 22, 2014), http://www.mlaglobal.com/community/news/5-mistakes-
lawfirms-make-with-temp-lawyers.
14 Id.
77
solutions provider, the Solutions Practice Group (SPG), are capturing increased market share and
will continue to have a major influence on how legal work will be performed and disaggregated.
Major consulting firms are also reentering the legal market and looking to capture some of this
revenue.
“Since the recession, businesses across the country have been pushing their employees to
do more with less,” explains Inside Counsel’s Ashley Post, regarding why temporary staffing has
become crucial for companies, in Strategies for Leaner Legal Departments: Part 1. She adds,
“Members of corporate legal departments have encountered the same challenge. Facing heightened
performance expectations and heavier workloads, in-house lawyers and their staffs have had to
alter their workplaces to conform to leaner budgets — all while maintaining productivity and
excellence.”12
Law firms are still learning how to effectively use the temporary staffing model, as
described by Law360 reporter Erin Coe in 5 Mistakes Law Firms Make with Temp Lawyers:
Firms are increasingly relying on temporary attorneys to scale up legal teams on
large matters while controlling costs for clients, but experts say they could take
more initiative in offering these lawyers as a staffing option when pitching for
business and could improve how they integrate them into the legal team.13
Coe includes perspective from MLA partner and global head of MLA’s In-House and
Solutions Practice Groups, Gregory Richter, who said: “Big firms have to be mindful that
disaggregating workloads is something clients will demand of them. Clients want different price
points for different levels of work and different people delivering that work. Firms have to think
outside the box and do things differently in this new-normal environment we are in.”14
MLA launched its Solutions Practice Group with the goal of finding ways for law firm and
corporate leaders to meet evolving needs with appropriate staffing and up-to-date solutions. The
methodology and service makes it easier to find highly-qualified lawyers and legal professionals
for substantive assignments on a cost-effective, contractual basis. A partnership with the SPG and
others in this space provides corporate and law firm clients with the ability to maintain quality of
work while enabling it to better manage staffing needs thus increasing efficiency and profitability.
Staffing arrangements in this area include long-term, on-site temporary placements; flexible work
arrangements; and project staffing for peak periods or interim needs.
Whether the position is at a law firm or in-house at a company, legal recruiters and staffers
guide firms and companies to choose the ideal candidate for future business success. The truly
adept legal recruiting and staffing firms are those that are also prepared to adapt to change and are
skillful at doing so.
Changes to the Legal Landscape Affect Recruiting
Supply and demand accounts for a more competitive legal job market. While the 2008
recession certainly took away legal positions, law students still continue to graduate and look for
jobs.
12 Ashley Post, Strategies for Leaner Legal Departments, Part 1, INSIDE COUNSEL (Feb. 26, 2013).
13 Erin Coe, 5 Mistakes Law Firms Make with Temp Lawyers, LAW360 (Aug. 22, 2014), http://www.mlaglobal.com/community/news/5-mistakes-
lawfirms-make-with-temp-lawyers.
14 Id.
77
