Legal departments are feeling the pressure. When urgency and uncertainty converge, rightsourcing the resources at your disposal are how General Counsel are advancing business goals, managing risks, and advancing priorities.
In this playbook, we share 3 examples of how GCs are optimizing the value of their resources – how to optimize your in-house team, what is best handled by outside counsel, and how to lean on your flexible talent partner to get the most out of both.
The upside includes avoiding team burnout and notable savings on recruitment and retention expenses.
Also included is a tactical decision tree titled “Full-Time Hire, Outside Counsel, Or Flexible Talent?” to immediately bring rightsourced thinking to your legal team.
Rightsourcing is “not about always going for the lowest cost option. Instead, it’s about making the decision that will maximize the value your department can deliver,” says Paragon Legal President & COO Jessica Markowitz.
The rise of flexible in-house counsel is game changing for how much your legal team can accomplish. Read on to learn how.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/gcs-guide-to-rightsourcing.png533800competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-07-17 09:54:582025-05-14 13:50:52A GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing: 3 Ways to Make the Business Case For FTE vs. Flex Talent vs. Outside Counsel
One of the nation’s top FinTech lenders had a long-term goal of building an exceptional procumbent team from the ground up. The suitable FTE candidates needed solid financial industry experience dealing with many agreements, including but not limited to various inbound vendor agreements, plus data privacy know-how. But, with an explosion of commercial procurement overflow work and finding spot-on talent taking an average of 6 to 9 months, the hiring procurement leader also needed the right short-term solution. The client’s stated expectations were for attorneys with short ramp-up time, who were independent-minded and could work without relying on templates in a fast-paced environment.
Paragon’s Solution
After carefully listening to the client’s needs and understanding both their short-term and long-term needs and time being of the essence, Paragon assembled a three-team solution with an outstanding procurement lawyer with financial and FinTech industry know-how as lead, plus two highly skilled procurement professionals skilled in negotiating a variety of agreements, including in-bound vendor agreements and data privacy agreements. The Paragon team approach afforded the client the 6-9-month breathing room needed to attack the heavy backlog of work and find permanent hires. The client could peel off Paragon’s flexible support as it found the right talent to plug in. The Paragon solution was such a strong fit that the client converted the Paragon Procurement Lead with industry experience as one of the FTEs.
Benefits & Savings for Client
Despite their senior-level, past law firm, and in-house transactional experience with privacy know-how, the client secured three attorneys needed from Paragon at a combined hourly rate of only $615 per hour. Given that in 2022, the average billable rate for a single commercial transaction partner at a law firm with niche financial experience topped $700, this was a staggering cost saving over the nine-month engagement.
The client could also leverage the Paragon attorney team flexibly for nine months, providing outstanding feedback for the strong talent fit, the lift provided to their commercial team, lasting process improvements, enormous cost savings, and new permanent additions to their team. Indeed, it is a win/win flexible, cost-effective solution with lasting impact.
As June comes to a close, we’re sharing some ways we’ve celebrated Pride 2024 and the LGBTQ+ community. We invite you to check these out and keep the celebration going!
Feeling overworked and understaffed? Rightsourcing is the secret to reclaiming your in-house legal team’s time (and sanity).
Corporate legal departments: Audit your workloads, delegate strategically, and leverage flexible talent to boost productivity without burning out your top lawyers.
Stop letting your best in-house attorneys get bogged down in tasks. Follow this step-by-step guide to optimizing how work gets done in your corporate legal department.
In-house legal leaders, are you at your breaking point?
You’re not alone. Many GCs and in-house attorneys are trying to accomplish more with limited resources. But at the same time, they know they need to keep workloads sustainable if they want to retain their in-house talent.
We’re here to help with steps to complete rightsourcing—choosing the right people to get your team’s work done at the best cost. This article will walk you through a framework for assessing your team’s workload, delegating tasks effectively, and leveraging flexible talent to extend your department’s impact.
Let’s dive in.
Do a workload time audit
Time estimate: 2-4 weeks
The first step is to see exactly where your team is spending its time and effort so you can pinpoint areas where the department can be more efficient and effective.
Understand how your attorneys are really spending their time
We know attorneys bristle at time tracking, but frame this as an opportunity for improvement rather than a punitive measure. Emphasize that the goal is to help the team work more efficiently and be able to allocate time to the matters that matter most.
For example, you might find that multiple team members are working on NDAs, recreating the wheel with each new customer’s redlines. Or, one department could be taking up most of your legal team’s time, a clear sign to create resources that reduce their reliance on legal.
There are many user-friendly tools—such as Toggl, RescueTime, and Clockify—that make it easy for attorneys to track their time without disrupting their workflows. Or, go old-school and ask attorneys to track their work with a notepad or spreadsheet, noting how frequently they get questions or projects that could’ve been handled by a non-lawyer or get a surge of work.
Aim to track time for at least two representative weeks, ideally up to four weeks, to get a representative sample of your team’s workload.
Meet with each attorney to ask how they feel about their work
Time-tracking tells part of the story, but it’s crucial to also confirm insights from the data with qualitative feedback. Set up one-on-ones with each team member to discuss how they feel about their time records and workload. Ask questions like:
What tasks do you feel you’re doing too often?
Which tasks do you find particularly unfulfilling?
What tasks on your plate don’t necessarily require a lawyer’s input?
These conversations will highlight what work might be ripe for delegation or reprioritization. For example, you know that escalations from the procurement team are becoming an issue if most of your attorneys say their calls and emails are bogging them down.
Categorize your in-house team’s tasks
Time estimate: 1 week
Once you have your team’s time audit data and qualitative input, bucket the work into priority, expertise, risk, and frequency categories. This will help you determine the most efficient way to handle your team’s tasks.
High-priority VS Low-priority
If delayed or mishandled, high-priority tasks can significantly impact your bottom line. Imagine how adelay in closing key licensing agreement can stall a product launch and all the deadlines built around it. Low-priority tasks don’t have the same time, revenue, or production pressures.
Here are a few examples of each type:
High-priority
Low-priority
Negotiating key customer contracts
Updating templates with minor tweaks
Advising on high-stakes litigation
Reviewing routine vendor agreements
Ensuring regulatory compliance
Attending non-essential meetings
Requires attorney expertise VS non-attorney work
Attorney expertise is necessary for tasks that involve interpreting laws, providing legal advice, and representing the company in legal matters. If the work is administrative or doesn’t require legal judgment, it may be appropriate for non-attorneys or technology solutions.
Here are a few examples of each type:
Requires attorney expertise
Non-attorney work
Counseling the C-suite and board on legal risks
Answering questions around existing HR policies
Structuring complex transactions
Maintaining contract databases (could be delegated to legal operations)
Developing legal strategy for litigation
Reviewing and routing your company’s template NDAs (could be automated with a contract review tool)
High-risk VS low-risk
High-risk tasks have severe consequences if mishandled—like regulatory penalties, financial costs, and reputational harm. Low-risk tasks have minimal potential downsides and are often more routine in nature.
Here are a few examples of each type:
High-risk
Low-risk
Bet-the-company litigation
Conducting research on legal and regulatory changes
Mergers and acquisitions
Processing routine vendor contracts
Regulatory investigations
Conducting trademark searches
Recurring VS one-off
Identify work that happens on a predictable cadence versus ad hoc projects. Recurring tasks are often tied to ongoing business processes or reporting cycles, while one-off projects have a defined start and end point. This will help you determine what tasks need support on an ongoing basis.
Here are a few examples of each type:
Recurring
One-off
Quarterly board meeting preparation
Implementing a new contract management system
Monthly sales contract reviews
Updating an employee handbook to reflect a new employment law
Annual compliance training
Acquiring a new business entity
Delegate work strategically
Time estimate: 2 weeks
With your team’s tasks categorized, it’s time to make sure that your attorneys’ work is in the right hands.
Interim counsel: Attorney-level work of any priority
When urgent matters come up and your in-house team is stretched thin, flexible counsel is the way to go. If it’s all hands on deck and you’re hoping to still make strides on those back-burner projects, turn to interim support. It’s perfect for in-house teams that need closer collaboration than outside counsel provides but lack the budget and time to recruit, interview, and hire a full-time attorney.
Interim attorney tasks typically fall under these categories:
High or low-priority
Attorney expertise
High or low-risk
Recurring or one-off
It’s really up to you! A solid flexible legal talent provider will work to understand what it is you need. From there, they’ll pair you with interim attorneys who have top-tier expertise and can seamlessly plug in as embedded team members.
Even better, interim attorneys don’t come with the long-term costs and commitments of full-time hires. You can access a versatile talent pool for projects as they arise when it makes sense for your team. Interim attorneys can handle any risk level you would be comfortable managing in-house with your own FTEs.
For example, imagine you’re launching a major new product, and your in-house attorneys are overwhelmed with compliance and privacy issues. Instead of spending more time and money to recruit and hire a full-time employee, your team could engage an interim attorney who specializes in product counseling. Or, you might deploy a flex counsel who can take your teams’ routine matters off their plate while they focus on the new product.
By using interim counsel, you can cost-effectively add capacity and expertise to your team without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire.
Create templates, playbooks, and training to help other departments in your business handle routine legal work on their own. These tasks likely fall under these categories:
Low-priority
Non-attorney
Low-risk
Recurring
Say the sales team consistently comes to legal with contract review questions. Your legal department could create a training session that walks sales reps and managers through using an automated contract review tool, like Screens.ai. Paragon offers access to this tool in our Contract AI Bundle package.
Don’t have time to build training programs and playbooks? Consider using interim attorneys to create these resources for your company (more on using flex counsel below).
By enabling other departments to handle routine tasks, legal will reserve their time for more complex projects.
Outside counsel: High-risk, niche work
Tap law firms for high-risk matters that require on-call attention and highly specialized expertise. These tasks likely fall under these categories:
High-priority
Attorney expertise
High-risk
One-off
Imagine your company is facing a patent infringement lawsuit. The in-house team has general litigation experience, but they don’t have deep expertise in patent law. To give your company the best possible defense, you hire a law firm with a renowned intellectual property practice and experience litigating similar cases in the relevant jurisdiction.
In these high-stakes situations, consider using interim counsel to back up your team on the matters building up at home. Flex attorneys can handle your team’s day-to-day work while your full-time attorneys are focused on the work that will save the company.
In-house counsel: High-priority, strategic work
Keep your core in-house legal team focused on strategic work that’s critical to the business. These tasks likely fall into these categories:
High-priority
Attorney expertise
High-risk
Recurring or one-off
Say your company is facing a major regulatory investigation. Your in-house lawyers’ unmatched knowledge of your organization’s policies, risk areas, and history with the regulating bodies will be critical to interfacing with the regulators and developing your strategy.
Empower your in-house attorneys to lead legal projects that could significantly impact the company’s future and bottom line. If needed, they can always work with interim counsel or outside counsel for supplemental support.
The bottom line
At the end of the day, rightsourcing isn’t about going with the lowest-cost option or defaulting to what’s always been done. It’s about picking the talent solution that will execute the task at the best value.
You can do just that by following the steps above. Take control of your team’s workload by understanding exactly what’s on their plates and reallocating tasks internally and externally.
And if you need support, Paragon is here to help. With a network of experienced interim counsel, we help legal teams tackle their biggest challenges and lighten the load on the core team—all without adding permanent headcount.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/shutterstock_1686881449.jpg6671000competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-06-04 14:46:162024-11-19 14:52:30How to Reduce Your In-house Team’s Workload
When you imagine interim counsel, do you picture a lone attorney in a windowless room doing document review? That was certainly the case 20 years ago.
Thankfully, flexible legal services have come a long way. Attorneys with niche skills take on interim roles today to get more control over their work and their schedules. They can use their expertise to help in-house teams without sacrificing their work-life balance.
And yet, some GCs still see flexible legal talent as a one-off solution for admin work. In-house teams are burnt out and over budget, even though talented interim attorneys could ease their workloads.
If that sounds dubious, you probably have one of these objections to hiring flexible legal talent. Read on for our responses to the most common questions about hiring interim counsel.
1. I don’t need interim legal services.
Traditionally, in-house teams used staffing services to backfill temporarily vacant roles, such as covering a maternity leave. But today, there are many more use cases for flexible legal talent.
Access to specialized skills. Interim counsel can provide expertise in a variety of practice areas, such as data privacy, intellectual property, employment law, and more.
Test new team structures. Use a flexible attorney to test a new role before committing to a full-time hire (or when you don’t have budget for one).
Add internal capacity. Interim counsel can support your team through temporary surges in workload, like quarter-end pushes or major transactions.
This last point is critical considering the in-house legal teams’ current workloads. In a 2023 Bloomberg survey, 70% of in-house counsel reported heavy workloads as a major challenge compared to just half of law firm attorneys. Flexible talent provides much-needed relief to your overworked in-house attorneys without the time and cost of full-time hiring.
2. Interim legal services isn’t the best use of my budget.
Some GCs assume flexible counsel is more expensive than full-time hires based on hourly rates alone, so they don’t allocate their budget to interim attorneys. But when you factor in all employee expenses, flexible talent is almost always more cost-effective than hiring full-time positions or outside counsel.
With flexible talent, you only pay for the hours you need.
Consider a hypothetical cost comparison between full-time, outside, and interim counsel:
All costs considered, the interim attorney saves the in-house team over $150K. There’s no overhead for benefits, bonuses, equity, and other employee expenses. The flexible rate is also a bargain compared to outside counsel, especially as law firm rates continue to climb.
Plus, with flexible talent, you set the time your interim attorney works. Paragon clients retain and pay their interim attorneys for a set number of hours so they can control and predict their legal spending as workloads fluctuate.
3. It’s too much work to vet and onboard flexible legal talent for temporary work.
Onboarding an interim attorney requires some effort, but the right flexible legal talent provider will shoulder much of that burden. Look for a partner that:
Rigorously vets candidates. Before you meet potential interim counsel, your talent provider should interview your business to understand what you’re looking for in an attorney and interview candidates. This vetting process helps the provider find the best fit for your project.
Handles employee onboarding (as a W-2), including conducting background checks and administering paperwork, payroll, and benefits to their interim attorney staff.
Knows what a good match is in terms of both legal skills and culture fit, so you don’t have to sift through tons of resumes or worry that the candidate won’t work out.
Supports the attorney throughout the engagement, so you’re not alone in making the partnership successful. Paragon provides ongoing feedback, continuing education, and more to the interim counsel while they’re working for the client.
Checks in regularly with you to ensure the engagement runs smoothly and address any changes or needs along the way.
Paragon handles all of the above responsibilities and more. Unlike other flexible legal talent providers, we have a dedicated Attorney Development team to help us deliver high-quality service to clients and attorneys alike. This group provides interim attorneys with constant feedback and coaching to provide excellent service and address client concerns as soon as they pop up.
With this support, you only have to spend a few hours getting an interim attorney up to speed—far less time than recruiting and onboarding a full-time employee.
That onboarding investment has a lasting impact. Your interim attorney knows the drill at your company, so they can come back to work after their first engagement as much as needed.
4. Flexible legal talent isn’t qualified.
There’s a common misconception that interim lawyers are attorneys who couldn’t hack it at a firm. That couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to today’s interim counsel.
Many highly qualified, experienced attorneys choose this path to practice in a way that provides more flexibility—because they have elderly parents or young kids, passions to pursue outside of the law, or want to do great legal work for 40 hours a week instead of 60 to 80. The traditional partner or GC path doesn’t appeal to everyone.
The key is finding a selective legal talent provider that prioritizes the vetting process. At Paragon, we accept less than 5% of the applications we receive and review candidates by conducting:
Initial application screenings for practice area expertise and years of experience
In-depth interviews
Reference checks
These vetting steps all happen before a client even meets with a candidate.
Our talent pool speaks for itself. It includes former senior counsel of tech giants like Adobe, Salesforce, and Twitter, as well as leading law firms. The flexible counsel in our network has practiced law for an average of 15+ years.
Working with a discerning, flexible talent provider gives you access to a network of vetted, accomplished attorneys.
5. Outside counsel and full-time hires are tried-and-true solutions.
When your outside counsel and in-house hiring have worked well enough, it’s natural to question a newer model like on-demand talent. But in an era of tighter budgets and leaner teams, we don’t recommend writing off flexible legal talent services based on newness alone.
Instead, evaluate providers based on their results and processes with clients. Here are common questions we hear from prospects:
What is your project success rate? Paragon’s is over 95%.
What is your client satisfaction rate? Paragon’s average satisfaction rate is 9.2/10.
How many years of experience do your attorneys have, and in what practice areas? Paragon’s talent network averages 15+ years in various areas of law—including privacy, corporate, commercial, IP, and licensing.
What training and onboarding do you provide? Paragon’s Attorney Development team supports talent and clients with regular coaching sessions throughout client engagements.
How do you ensure client satisfaction? Every Paragon client has a Client Development team member who is the dedicated point of contact for the engagement. We check in periodically with the client to see how things are goingand are available to answer any questions.
What is your client retention rate? Seventy percent of Paragon’s clients are repeat users, and several have been with us for 10+ years.
Flexible counsel may be a newer solution for in-house legal teams, but providers like Paragon have a solid track record of high-quality talent and high-touch service.
Find experienced, flexible counsel with Paragon.
There’s a time and place for full-time hires and outside counsel on in-house teams. But many GCs think both are the only available talent solutions.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Flexible counsel gives teams specialized expertise, flexible capacity, and significant cost savings compared to law firms or full-time employees.
Ready to see how on-demand talent can ease your team’s workload and improve your bottom line? Reach out to our team, and we’ll break down our approach to matching top-notch attorneys with in-house teams. Request an attorney today.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/shutterstock_1497456113.jpg6671000Kristen Poor/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgKristen Poor2024-05-16 15:49:272024-05-16 15:49:35The Top 5 Objections We Hear to Hiring Interim Counsel
Legal departments are feeling the pressure. When urgency and uncertainty converge, rightsourcing the resources at your disposal are how General Counsel are advancing business goals, managing risks, and advancing priorities.
In this playbook, we share 3 examples of how GCs are optimizing the value of their resources – how to optimize your in-house team, what is best handled by outside counsel, and how to lean on your flexible talent partner to get the most out of both.
The upside includes avoiding team burnout and notable savings on recruitment and retention expenses.
Also included is a tactical decision tree titled “Full-Time Hire, Outside Counsel, Or Flexible Talent?” to immediately bring rightsourced thinking to your legal team.
Rightsourcing is “not about always going for the lowest cost option. Instead, it’s about making the decision that will maximize the value your department can deliver,” says Paragon Legal President & COO Jessica Markowitz.
The rise of flexible in-house counsel is game changing for how much your legal team can accomplish. Read on to learn how.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/gcs-guide-to-rightsourcing.png533800competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-05-08 15:30:192025-05-14 12:43:59A GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing: 3 Ways to Make the Business Case For FTE vs. Flex Talent vs. Outside Counsel
We get it—your in-house legal team is drowning in work, and all you want is for your CFO to approve interim legal services to ease the burden.
But as a GC, your job is more than just considering your legal team. A huge part of your role is managing your budget. Your CFO expects you to get the highest value for every dollar spent, just like every other department leader.
This mindset of being a strategic partner is the key to successfully pitching flexible legal talent services. Get a “yes” from your CFO by highlighting these interim counsel benefits.
1. You’re getting FTE-caliber support (without FTE costs)
If your in-house team struggles to keep internal clients happy, you’re not alone. In-house legal teams across industries are overwhelmed with work, while GCs struggle to hire more full-time employees because of headcount budget cuts.
Interim counsel saves the day for your team and your bottom line. You customize their hours based on the work you need, unlike employees who must work a full-time schedule no matter what.
Because they’re a dedicated resource, interim legal talent operates more effectively than outside counsel. Law firms charge increasingly expensive rates, and they often work less efficiently than in-house attorneys because they work outside your company.
An interim counsel accomplishes more with less oversight. They work directly with your in-house team and stakeholders, so they get to know the business model, risk tolerance, pace, and people. This knowledge empowers a flex attorney to operate more quickly and comfortably than an outsider.
What talking points about interim counsel’s work should I prepare for my CFO?
Collect testimonials and case studies from the interim legal talent provider you’re considering. Ideally, find anecdotes from companies in your industry with similar in-house legal challenges.
In each case study, highlight what the interim attorneys accomplish and how they’re just as dependable as full-time employees. Consider the cybersecurity startup Synack. Its Paragon flexible attorney David oversaw all contract issues for the company, handled employment questions, and was even available during off-hours for calls.
“He was very responsive in terms of making sure that all of his work was timely and we weren’t missing any response time goals,” said Steve Soper, Synack’s Vice President of Legal.
2. It costs less than outside counsel and full-time hires
Looking for ways to maximize profitability, your CFO will be happy to hear that interim talent is the most cost-effective labor solution for in-house legal teams. Flex talent fees are far lower than outside counsel fees, and companies don’t have to pay for the extra costs associated with hiring an FTE—like benefits, bonuses, equity, and onboarding expenses—because your interim agency covers them.
Outside counsel may be worth the higher cost when dealing with very high-risk matters requiring niche expertise. But when it comes to navigating your org and tackling the day-to-day work of your team, an interim attorney will fit the bill. They have the hard and soft skills needed at a far more reasonable price point than other talent solutions. This value is hard to overstate as in-house teams face increasing budget scrutiny.
What talking points about interim counsel costs should I prepare for my CFO?
Compare the costs of your prospective interim legal talent provider, outside counsel, and full-time hire expenses. The first two are relatively easy to compare since both have set hourly rates, while full-time hire cost breakdowns depend on the type of attorney you need.
Our recent ebook includes several cost comparison charts, including the one below. Download the resource for more cost breakdowns to share with your CFO.
We also recommend asking your prospective interim legal talent provider for examples of client cost savings. At Paragon, for example, one client saved $7M in 2023 alone by using flex talent instead of outside counsel.
3. You only pay for the work you need
The ebbs and flows of legal work are often unpredictable. Sudden business or economic changes can quickly create a busy or slow season for your in-house team. During these times, CFOs are reluctant to hire rapidly because headcount budgets are already strained. Sudden layoffs also aren’t ideal since they crush morale and leave you short-staffed when work peaks again.
Considering the uneven nature of in-house legal work, your CFO will be happy to hear that flex talent is a variable cost. You can increase or decrease your interim counsel’s weekly hours based on your team’s workload. For example, a company might have an interim attorney work 20 hours per week in Q3 and ramp up to 40 weekly hours in Q4 to help cover year-end reporting requirements and sales targets.
You can also adjust the duration of your interim counsel engagement to be as short or long as you like. This flexibility is critical for CFOs who want a buffer if the business’ needs change, whether that’s a workload increase or a drop in revenue.
What do we mean by variable and fixed costs? Variable costs are expenses that a business can adjust based on the products or services it produces, while fixed costs are constant regardless of the products and services produced.
While salaries and headcount are fixed costs, flex talent is a variable cost line item because you can turn it on or off as needed. Proposing a staffing option that keeps your CFO’s fixed cost base low will be music to their ears.
What talking points about interim counsel variable costs should I prepare for my CFO?
Ask your prospective flexible legal talent provider for examples of clients who regularly adjust their interim counsel workload.
At Paragon, we like to tell prospects about a 10-year client. Our flex talent makes up half of their legal staff, and the company adjusts their weekly hours based on their need for the attorneys’ specialties.
Along with pulling client stories, map out the ebbs and flows of your in-house team’s work from the last year to show when interim talent would’ve been a cost-saver or potential revenue-booster. Include predictions about work fluctuations over the next year to make the case for investing in flexible counsel now.
4. Interim talent doesn’t impact legal’s headcount budget or RPE
CFOs are under pressure from investors, capital allocators, and executives to keep headcount costs down. In EY’s 2023 report, 34% of CFOs reported that they planned to make short-term talent and culture budget cuts—the second most popular choice for cuts after ESG spending.
Likewise, CFOs are eager to keep revenue per employee (RPE) high to show stakeholders the company is productive. Investors increasingly value this metric after so many tech companies have struggled to grow profitably in recent years.
Flex legal talent helps CFOs look good on both fronts. Because interim counsel aren’t employees, their costs don’t increase headcount budgets or lower RPE. Instead, CFOs typically classify flex legal talent as variable cost line items.
What talking points about interim counsel’s budgetary benefits should I prepare for my CFO?
Emphasize that hiring full-time attorneys will raise headcount costs. You’ll add base salaries, benefits, payroll, bonuses, hiring, and onboarding costs to your budget, and RPE will most likely be lower. Revenue will stay constant as you add more employees—legal typically generates little to no income—leading to a lower RPE.
Revenue per employee= company revenue / current number of full-time employees
If your team plans on allocating your outside counsel spend to interim talent, highlight this plan to your CFO. They’ll appreciate that you’re not asking for more funding and that using interim counsel won’t impact the overall budget. In fact, shifting your outside counsel budget to flex counsel will likely lower your team’s overall spend.
As you discuss hypothetical budgets, note that your goal isn’t just choosing the cheapest option. Your in-house team is getting the same talent level with flexible counsel as they do with outside counsel or a full-time hire at a fraction of the cost.
5. Interim talent helps reduce attrition and turnover
Over the last year, many in-house attorneys have struggled with unsustainable workloads. Some have even quit their jobs because they’re so burnt out. It’s a serious concern for CFOs, considering that turnover is expensive.
Interim talent releases the pressure valve on in-house teams by taking on existing work, so in-house attorneys have less on their plate. Even better, you get to design your interim counsel’s workflows. For example, you might assign a subset of IP transactions to your flex attorney so that your team can build experience on the complex strategic partnerships or IP transactions they love.
Interim counsel is also okay with moving from department to department as needed. One Paragon contractor, for example, has transitioned through four different teams at the same client over the last five years. This flexibility allows your in-house team to pursue meaningful growth in the organization instead of filling gaps.
One reason why interim counsel can successfully shift between departments is their institutional knowledge. GCs trust these attorneys to work across Legal because they know they have a lay of the land. This experience is also why in-house teams will often re-engage the same flex attorney multiple times.
What talking points about interim counsel and retention should I prepare for my CFO?
Share external research with your CFO about in-house counsel job satisfaction. In this recent Bloomberg study, for example, a higher percentage of in-house attorneys reported heavy workloads as a challenge than law firm attorneys. This data highlights the seriousness of in-house teams’ workloads, helping CFOs understand the need for interim talent.
From there, present your CFO with data about how your in-house lawyers spend their time (you’ll need to ask team members to track their hours). Point out the high-stakes tasks that in-house attorneys need to complete along with the less important projects that interim counsel could handle.
Emphasize that completing this work with flex talent services offers two key benefits: it’s more affordable than hiring FTEs or outside counsel, and it helps you retain valuable in-house attorneys by taking low-level tasks off their plate.
To successfully pitch interim counsel, see yourself as a strategic partner
As you build your case for flex talent, remember you’re not just a lawyer. Your CFO expects you to be a business leader who can explain interim counsel from a P&L perspective.
Use this post to make a persuasive pitch. Highlight how the variable cost structure of interim attorneys is a strong defense against unpredictable cycles without requiring your team to compromise on talent.
Interested in learning more about how you can build a business case for your in-house team’s needs? Check out our GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shutterstock_1476723293-scaled.jpg14222560competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-04-18 12:54:292025-05-14 13:49:495 Ways to Help You Sell Your CFO on Interim Counsel Services
Caroline “Carrie” Gilroy is a Senior Counsel with Paragon Legal, a premier legal services firm providing interim in-house counsel to businesses with growing legal teams as well as Fortune 500 corporate legal departments. Prior to joining Paragon, Carrie was the Senior Associate General Counsel/Head Counsel, Global at Franchise World Headquarters, LLC (Subway); General Counsel – Chief Legal Officer at Edible Arrangements International, LLC; and General Counsel – Chief Legal Officer at AAA Southern New England.
Carrie Gilroy, Paragon Legal
Carrie, a valued member of the Paragon team since 2021, has earned praise from clients for her ability to quickly add value and for her collaborative approach.
In the latest Paragon Attorney Spotlight, Carrie discusses her personal growth opportunities, what it’s like to work at Paragon, and tips for making the first day of a Paragon engagement go smoothly.
Q: What do you wish more people understood about being a Paragon attorney?
Paragon offers its attorneys the opportunity to do both meaningful and challenging legal work at market compensation, benefit levels, and work-life balance. Paragon negotiates with the client the number of hours the attorney will guarantee weekly availability. Attorneys want this because it provides them certainty that there will be time for outside activities and uninterrupted family time.
My Paragon engagements have been personal growth opportunities with cutting-edge legal work within sophisticated legal departments at two premier West Coast companies.
Paragon genuinely cares about each attorney’s work satisfaction, development, and well-being/work-life balance. In addition to regular check-ins and surveys by the Paragon corporate team, Paragon provides CLE subscriptions and other CLE opportunities, bar dues reimbursement, PTO and sick leave, 401k, and other benefits.
Q: What qualities do you think it takes to succeed in the Paragon work model?
Many Paragon attorneys have significant in-house law department management experience and large law firm training, so they typically have broad experience and expertise to seamlessly provide coverage to Paragon clients for a project or leave or to become an embedded lawyer on a long-term assignment.
My skill sets from prior general counsel and in-house experience for several regulated companies and from private law firm practice as a transaction and regulatory compliance lawyer has enabled me to quickly and successfully become embedded in the legal departments for businesses that were new to me: the plant-based food industry (two short-term assignments) and the AR/VR contract manufacturing operations of a technology company (my current long-term assignment).
So, at least for me, significant in-house management experience and broad expertise are at least two requirements for success
Q: You are perpetually arriving as the new kid in school. Any tips for making the first days go smoothly?
At the start of the engagement, set up brief meetings with the legal professionals and clients you will work with to learn how you can best support them. Become familiar with the client’s contract and other systems you will need to use, as well as the processes you will need to follow. Identify the areas/issues on which other legal department or business team SMEs that will need to be consulted. Review sample templates and become familiar with the typically negotiated and/or negotiable issues. Set your calendar to the client’s time zone and be available during that time zone. Also, IT onboarding typically takes longer than anticipated, so get set up as early as possible so you will be ready for work.
Q: How has the interim attorney model grown or expanded since you’ve started working at Paragon?
I started my first Paragon engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic when many legal professionals worked from home. Before the pandemic, remote work was not the norm, and, as a result, companies generally were not comfortable with it. And before this time of remote work, long-term work opportunities with West Coast-based companies would only be realistic for me if I relocated. During the pandemic, companies became more comfortable with remote work arrangements, and there are many success stories.
My current long-term assignment is remote. Even though the company now has a hybrid work policy, I have remained fully remote. Remote and hybrid work models are here to stay.
The remote interim attorney model continues to enable clients of firms like Paragon to leverage cost-effective expertise and experience regardless of attorney location, and without relocation expense.
AI-driven contract software provider and premier legal services firm partner to accelerate legal industry’s access to law-trained AI applications
Denver, CO & San Francisco, CA – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Screens.ai, a leading Generative AI contract drafting and review platform, and Paragon Legal, a premier provider of flexible legal talent solutions, expand the Paragon Contract AI Bundle to include the Screens.ai offering and accelerate access to AI technology for the legal industry.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the legal sector by streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and enhancing the overall quality of legal services. Through this partnership, Screens.ai, developed by TermScout, and Paragon Legal are at the forefront of this transformation, empowering legal professionals with cutting-edge AI tools to optimize contracting workflow and deliver exceptional client outcomes.
Screens.ai utilizes AI to automate the review and analysis of contracts, enabling legal professionals to expedite due diligence processes, identify potential risks, and extract key insights from complex legal documents with unprecedented accuracy and speed.
Paragon Legal, known for its innovative approach to delivering legal services, recognizes the immense value that AI brings to the legal industry. Adding Screens.ai to their offering allows Paragon clients to access AI review and redlining features right in Microsoft Word, as well as an M&A bulk contract review feature set for large volume contract review projects, all included in Paragon’s standard fees.
“At Paragon, we want to be at the forefront of technology and equip our attorneys with the latest technology to serve our clients in the most efficient and cost-effective way. By partnering with TermScout and Screens.ai, our team now has access to two of the market’s most powerful contract AI solutions to help them speed up their contracting efforts,” said Jessica Markowitz, President & COO of Paragon Legal.
The integration of TermScout’s AI-driven contract review platform into Paragon Legal’s suite of legal solutions marks a significant milestone in the adoption of AI technology within the legal industry. By combining Screens.ai’s cutting-edge AI capabilities with Paragon Legal’s expertise in providing flexible legal support, clients can benefit from faster turnaround times, reduced costs, and enhanced risk management strategies.
“We’re extremely impressed with the quality, experience, and diversity of the Paragon team,” said Otto Hanson, CEO of TermScout and Screens. “It’s an honor and a privilege to work closely with industry leaders who are invested in providing lawyers and clients with the most advanced AI-driven legal technology.”
Together, Screens.ai and Paragon Legal are paving the way for a new era of legal innovation, where AI offers a safe path to driving efficiency, productivity, and client satisfaction. By embracing AI-powered solutions, law firms and legal departments can stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive landscape, delivering superior results for their clients while maximizing operational performance.
About Screens.ai and TermScout
TermScout and Screens are a collection of solutions that help companies get to contract faster and with less risk. These AI-driven contract review solutions empower legal professionals to streamline contract analysis, mitigate risks, and extract valuable insights from complex legal documents with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. These companies are backed by NFX, GroundUp Ventures, Techstars, The Legal Tech Fund, and more. Learn more about Screens at www.screens.ai.
About Paragon Legal
Paragon is a premier legal services firm that provides interim in-house counsel to businesses with growing legal services needs as well as Fortune 500 corporate legal departments in a wide range of industries. Paragon’s unique model provides legal professionals with meaningful work outside of the traditional path, while also supporting its clients in everything from overflow work and special projects to hiring gaps and leave backfills — all in a cost-effective and flexible manner. To learn more about Paragon Legal, visit paragonlegal.com.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/shutterstock_2189791467.jpeg5001000competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-04-09 12:24:192025-05-14 14:27:26Paragon Legal Partners with Screens.ai to Advance Generative AI Adoption in the Legal Industry
A fast-growing medical devices company’s small but mighty legal team faced tremendous, multifaceted challenges in three areas:
1) Their existing global clinical trials attorney was drowning in work and needed the support of a subject matter expert and skilled negotiator to come in and support their abundant clinical trials work.
2) The commercial contracts team was facing tremendous demand from the business side. They lacked an effective CLM process and procedures to address the growing number of procurement contracts (e.g., DPAs and various IT agreements). They needed to merge their newly developed templates and clauses with their legacy contracts.
3) The privacy team needed a knowledgeable privacy professional to flag privacy issues for compliance with EU and US Privacy laws. Soft skills were critical as the support needed to be highly organized, adaptable to their high-risk tolerance, and able to prioritize essential business decisions.
Paragon’s Solution
After listening to the challenges and needs of the three hiring managers and fully understanding their internal processes issues, goals, and budget, the Paragon team knew they had to have a holistic, multi-step solution that not only addressed bandwidth in three separate areas, but also solved their contract life cycle management/administrative infrastructure bottlenecks. First, they provided the client with an experienced contract manager/attorney with an extensive background in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating multimillion-dollar commercial contracts in various industries. The contract manager was also highly skilled in multiple CLM, ERP, and Document Review solutions. With the contract manager helping to solve their administrative CLM challenges and bringing efficiency to the overall process, Paragon then deployed a 20-year experienced attorney with domestic and international laws within corporate research and development, clinical trials, licensing, and product marketing. After addressing the client’s CLM structural issues and giving the clinical trials team a much-needed lift, Paragon embedded a privacy professional experienced in privacy matters and regulatory compliance in pharmaceutical, healthcare, and medical devices, to help the privacy team ensure compliance with both EU and US privacy laws.
Benefits & Savings For Client
The client was pleased because Paragon did not just rush in to throw three professionals at the problem at once without first working with the client to strategically solve the structural CLM process issues that were impacting all three functions. Instead, Paragon helped the client methodically lay down the framework needed to address their long-term issues. The client was able to iteratively leverage Paragon’s dynamic trio at a combined hourly rate of $605 per hour ($230/$225/$150). This is a considerable value proposition as the equivalent outside law firm team of 3 to 5 subject matter experts and their respective support teams to address the variety of subject matter needs, with niche industry know-how, would easily exceed $2,000 per hour. Over the approximately one-year life cycle anticipated for this engagement, the client will realize a net legal cost saving of over 2.3 million dollars by leveraging Paragon’s flexible, high-caliber talent.
https://paragonlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shutterstock_1760929442.jpg4571000competenow/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/paragon-logo.svgcompetenow2024-03-15 15:28:542025-05-14 13:56:45Case Study: How a Thriving Medical Devices Co. Overcomes Legal Hurdles with Strategic Team Expansion
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A GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing: 3 Ways to Make the Business Case For FTE vs. Flex Talent vs. Outside Counsel
/in Reports/by competenowLegal departments are feeling the pressure. When urgency and uncertainty converge, rightsourcing the resources at your disposal are how General Counsel are advancing business goals, managing risks, and advancing priorities.
In this playbook, we share 3 examples of how GCs are optimizing the value of their resources – how to optimize your in-house team, what is best handled by outside counsel, and how to lean on your flexible talent partner to get the most out of both.
The upside includes avoiding team burnout and notable savings on recruitment and retention expenses.
Also included is a tactical decision tree titled “Full-Time Hire, Outside Counsel, Or Flexible Talent?” to immediately bring rightsourced thinking to your legal team.
Rightsourcing is “not about always going for the lowest cost option. Instead, it’s about making the decision that will maximize the value your department can deliver,” says Paragon Legal President & COO Jessica Markowitz.
The rise of flexible in-house counsel is game changing for how much your legal team can accomplish. Read on to learn how.
FinTech Leader Accelerates Procurement Excellence: Balancing Long-Term Vision with Short-Term Solutions
/in Case Studies/by competenowClient Challenge
One of the nation’s top FinTech lenders had a long-term goal of building an exceptional procumbent team from the ground up. The suitable FTE candidates needed solid financial industry experience dealing with many agreements, including but not limited to various inbound vendor agreements, plus data privacy know-how. But, with an explosion of commercial procurement overflow work and finding spot-on talent taking an average of 6 to 9 months, the hiring procurement leader also needed the right short-term solution. The client’s stated expectations were for attorneys with short ramp-up time, who were independent-minded and could work without relying on templates in a fast-paced environment.
Paragon’s Solution
After carefully listening to the client’s needs and understanding both their short-term and long-term needs and time being of the essence, Paragon assembled a three-team solution with an outstanding procurement lawyer with financial and FinTech industry know-how as lead, plus two highly skilled procurement professionals skilled in negotiating a variety of agreements, including in-bound vendor agreements and data privacy agreements. The Paragon team approach afforded the client the 6-9-month breathing room needed to attack the heavy backlog of work and find permanent hires. The client could peel off Paragon’s flexible support as it found the right talent to plug in. The Paragon solution was such a strong fit that the client converted the Paragon Procurement Lead with industry experience as one of the FTEs.
Benefits & Savings for Client
Despite their senior-level, past law firm, and in-house transactional experience with privacy know-how, the client secured three attorneys needed from Paragon at a combined hourly rate of only $615 per hour. Given that in 2022, the average billable rate for a single commercial transaction partner at a law firm with niche financial experience topped $700, this was a staggering cost saving over the nine-month engagement.
The client could also leverage the Paragon attorney team flexibly for nine months, providing outstanding feedback for the strong talent fit, the lift provided to their commercial team, lasting process improvements, enormous cost savings, and new permanent additions to their team. Indeed, it is a win/win flexible, cost-effective solution with lasting impact.
In Celebration: Pride Month
/in In Celebration pride/by competenowAs June comes to a close, we’re sharing some ways we’ve celebrated Pride 2024 and the LGBTQ+ community. We invite you to check these out and keep the celebration going!
Read about the history of Pride month in this article from the Smithsonian.
The ABA highlights several LGBTQ+ Legal Trailblazers here.
Learn more about Rev. Dr. Pauli Murry, legal scholar, civil rights activist, and poet, here.
Hear Sir Ian McKellen deliver Harvey Milk’s Hope Speech here.
Participate in your local celebration and/or livestream the 54th Annual San Francisco Pride Beacon of Love Parade on June 30.
How to Reduce Your In-house Team’s Workload
/in Articles product counseling, technology transaction attorneys/by competenowKey Takeaways:
In-house legal leaders, are you at your breaking point?
You’re not alone. Many GCs and in-house attorneys are trying to accomplish more with limited resources. But at the same time, they know they need to keep workloads sustainable if they want to retain their in-house talent.
We’re here to help with steps to complete rightsourcing—choosing the right people to get your team’s work done at the best cost. This article will walk you through a framework for assessing your team’s workload, delegating tasks effectively, and leveraging flexible talent to extend your department’s impact.
Let’s dive in.
Do a workload time audit
Time estimate: 2-4 weeks
The first step is to see exactly where your team is spending its time and effort so you can pinpoint areas where the department can be more efficient and effective.
Understand how your attorneys are really spending their time
We know attorneys bristle at time tracking, but frame this as an opportunity for improvement rather than a punitive measure. Emphasize that the goal is to help the team work more efficiently and be able to allocate time to the matters that matter most.
For example, you might find that multiple team members are working on NDAs, recreating the wheel with each new customer’s redlines. Or, one department could be taking up most of your legal team’s time, a clear sign to create resources that reduce their reliance on legal.
There are many user-friendly tools—such as Toggl, RescueTime, and Clockify—that make it easy for attorneys to track their time without disrupting their workflows. Or, go old-school and ask attorneys to track their work with a notepad or spreadsheet, noting how frequently they get questions or projects that could’ve been handled by a non-lawyer or get a surge of work.
Aim to track time for at least two representative weeks, ideally up to four weeks, to get a representative sample of your team’s workload.
Meet with each attorney to ask how they feel about their work
Time-tracking tells part of the story, but it’s crucial to also confirm insights from the data with qualitative feedback. Set up one-on-ones with each team member to discuss how they feel about their time records and workload. Ask questions like:
These conversations will highlight what work might be ripe for delegation or reprioritization. For example, you know that escalations from the procurement team are becoming an issue if most of your attorneys say their calls and emails are bogging them down.
Categorize your in-house team’s tasks
Time estimate: 1 week
Once you have your team’s time audit data and qualitative input, bucket the work into priority, expertise, risk, and frequency categories. This will help you determine the most efficient way to handle your team’s tasks.
High-priority VS Low-priority
If delayed or mishandled, high-priority tasks can significantly impact your bottom line. Imagine how a delay in closing key licensing agreement can stall a product launch and all the deadlines built around it. Low-priority tasks don’t have the same time, revenue, or production pressures.
Here are a few examples of each type:
Requires attorney expertise VS non-attorney work
Attorney expertise is necessary for tasks that involve interpreting laws, providing legal advice, and representing the company in legal matters. If the work is administrative or doesn’t require legal judgment, it may be appropriate for non-attorneys or technology solutions.
Here are a few examples of each type:
High-risk VS low-risk
High-risk tasks have severe consequences if mishandled—like regulatory penalties, financial costs, and reputational harm. Low-risk tasks have minimal potential downsides and are often more routine in nature.
Here are a few examples of each type:
Recurring VS one-off
Identify work that happens on a predictable cadence versus ad hoc projects. Recurring tasks are often tied to ongoing business processes or reporting cycles, while one-off projects have a defined start and end point. This will help you determine what tasks need support on an ongoing basis.
Here are a few examples of each type:
Delegate work strategically
Time estimate: 2 weeks
With your team’s tasks categorized, it’s time to make sure that your attorneys’ work is in the right hands.
Interim counsel: Attorney-level work of any priority
When urgent matters come up and your in-house team is stretched thin, flexible counsel is the way to go. If it’s all hands on deck and you’re hoping to still make strides on those back-burner projects, turn to interim support. It’s perfect for in-house teams that need closer collaboration than outside counsel provides but lack the budget and time to recruit, interview, and hire a full-time attorney.
Interim attorney tasks typically fall under these categories:
It’s really up to you! A solid flexible legal talent provider will work to understand what it is you need. From there, they’ll pair you with interim attorneys who have top-tier expertise and can seamlessly plug in as embedded team members.
Even better, interim attorneys don’t come with the long-term costs and commitments of full-time hires. You can access a versatile talent pool for projects as they arise when it makes sense for your team. Interim attorneys can handle any risk level you would be comfortable managing in-house with your own FTEs.
For example, imagine you’re launching a major new product, and your in-house attorneys are overwhelmed with compliance and privacy issues. Instead of spending more time and money to recruit and hire a full-time employee, your team could engage an interim attorney who specializes in product counseling. Or, you might deploy a flex counsel who can take your teams’ routine matters off their plate while they focus on the new product.
By using interim counsel, you can cost-effectively add capacity and expertise to your team without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire.
Non-legal employees: Non-attorney, recurring tasks
Create templates, playbooks, and training to help other departments in your business handle routine legal work on their own. These tasks likely fall under these categories:
Say the sales team consistently comes to legal with contract review questions. Your legal department could create a training session that walks sales reps and managers through using an automated contract review tool, like Screens.ai. Paragon offers access to this tool in our Contract AI Bundle package.
Don’t have time to build training programs and playbooks? Consider using interim attorneys to create these resources for your company (more on using flex counsel below).
By enabling other departments to handle routine tasks, legal will reserve their time for more complex projects.
Outside counsel: High-risk, niche work
Tap law firms for high-risk matters that require on-call attention and highly specialized expertise. These tasks likely fall under these categories:
Imagine your company is facing a patent infringement lawsuit. The in-house team has general litigation experience, but they don’t have deep expertise in patent law. To give your company the best possible defense, you hire a law firm with a renowned intellectual property practice and experience litigating similar cases in the relevant jurisdiction.
In these high-stakes situations, consider using interim counsel to back up your team on the matters building up at home. Flex attorneys can handle your team’s day-to-day work while your full-time attorneys are focused on the work that will save the company.
In-house counsel: High-priority, strategic work
Keep your core in-house legal team focused on strategic work that’s critical to the business. These tasks likely fall into these categories:
Say your company is facing a major regulatory investigation. Your in-house lawyers’ unmatched knowledge of your organization’s policies, risk areas, and history with the regulating bodies will be critical to interfacing with the regulators and developing your strategy.
Empower your in-house attorneys to lead legal projects that could significantly impact the company’s future and bottom line. If needed, they can always work with interim counsel or outside counsel for supplemental support.
The bottom line
At the end of the day, rightsourcing isn’t about going with the lowest-cost option or defaulting to what’s always been done. It’s about picking the talent solution that will execute the task at the best value.
You can do just that by following the steps above. Take control of your team’s workload by understanding exactly what’s on their plates and reallocating tasks internally and externally.
And if you need support, Paragon is here to help. With a network of experienced interim counsel, we help legal teams tackle their biggest challenges and lighten the load on the core team—all without adding permanent headcount.
Reach out to our team today.
The Top 5 Objections We Hear to Hiring Interim Counsel
/in Articles interim counsel/by Kristen PoorWhen you imagine interim counsel, do you picture a lone attorney in a windowless room doing document review? That was certainly the case 20 years ago.
Thankfully, flexible legal services have come a long way. Attorneys with niche skills take on interim roles today to get more control over their work and their schedules. They can use their expertise to help in-house teams without sacrificing their work-life balance.
And yet, some GCs still see flexible legal talent as a one-off solution for admin work. In-house teams are burnt out and over budget, even though talented interim attorneys could ease their workloads.
If that sounds dubious, you probably have one of these objections to hiring flexible legal talent. Read on for our responses to the most common questions about hiring interim counsel.
1. I don’t need interim legal services.
Traditionally, in-house teams used staffing services to backfill temporarily vacant roles, such as covering a maternity leave. But today, there are many more use cases for flexible legal talent.
This last point is critical considering the in-house legal teams’ current workloads. In a 2023 Bloomberg survey, 70% of in-house counsel reported heavy workloads as a major challenge compared to just half of law firm attorneys. Flexible talent provides much-needed relief to your overworked in-house attorneys without the time and cost of full-time hiring.
2. Interim legal services isn’t the best use of my budget.
Some GCs assume flexible counsel is more expensive than full-time hires based on hourly rates alone, so they don’t allocate their budget to interim attorneys. But when you factor in all employee expenses, flexible talent is almost always more cost-effective than hiring full-time positions or outside counsel.
With flexible talent, you only pay for the hours you need.
Consider a hypothetical cost comparison between full-time, outside, and interim counsel:
All costs considered, the interim attorney saves the in-house team over $150K. There’s no overhead for benefits, bonuses, equity, and other employee expenses. The flexible rate is also a bargain compared to outside counsel, especially as law firm rates continue to climb.
Plus, with flexible talent, you set the time your interim attorney works. Paragon clients retain and pay their interim attorneys for a set number of hours so they can control and predict their legal spending as workloads fluctuate.
3. It’s too much work to vet and onboard flexible legal talent for temporary work.
Onboarding an interim attorney requires some effort, but the right flexible legal talent provider will shoulder much of that burden. Look for a partner that:
Paragon handles all of the above responsibilities and more. Unlike other flexible legal talent providers, we have a dedicated Attorney Development team to help us deliver high-quality service to clients and attorneys alike. This group provides interim attorneys with constant feedback and coaching to provide excellent service and address client concerns as soon as they pop up.
With this support, you only have to spend a few hours getting an interim attorney up to speed—far less time than recruiting and onboarding a full-time employee.
That onboarding investment has a lasting impact. Your interim attorney knows the drill at your company, so they can come back to work after their first engagement as much as needed.
4. Flexible legal talent isn’t qualified.
There’s a common misconception that interim lawyers are attorneys who couldn’t hack it at a firm. That couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to today’s interim counsel.
Many highly qualified, experienced attorneys choose this path to practice in a way that provides more flexibility—because they have elderly parents or young kids, passions to pursue outside of the law, or want to do great legal work for 40 hours a week instead of 60 to 80. The traditional partner or GC path doesn’t appeal to everyone.
The key is finding a selective legal talent provider that prioritizes the vetting process. At Paragon, we accept less than 5% of the applications we receive and review candidates by conducting:
These vetting steps all happen before a client even meets with a candidate.
Our talent pool speaks for itself. It includes former senior counsel of tech giants like Adobe, Salesforce, and Twitter, as well as leading law firms. The flexible counsel in our network has practiced law for an average of 15+ years.
Working with a discerning, flexible talent provider gives you access to a network of vetted, accomplished attorneys.
5. Outside counsel and full-time hires are tried-and-true solutions.
When your outside counsel and in-house hiring have worked well enough, it’s natural to question a newer model like on-demand talent. But in an era of tighter budgets and leaner teams, we don’t recommend writing off flexible legal talent services based on newness alone.
Instead, evaluate providers based on their results and processes with clients. Here are common questions we hear from prospects:
Flexible counsel may be a newer solution for in-house legal teams, but providers like Paragon have a solid track record of high-quality talent and high-touch service.
Find experienced, flexible counsel with Paragon.
There’s a time and place for full-time hires and outside counsel on in-house teams. But many GCs think both are the only available talent solutions.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Flexible counsel gives teams specialized expertise, flexible capacity, and significant cost savings compared to law firms or full-time employees.
Ready to see how on-demand talent can ease your team’s workload and improve your bottom line? Reach out to our team, and we’ll break down our approach to matching top-notch attorneys with in-house teams. Request an attorney today.
A GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing: 3 Ways to Make the Business Case For FTE vs. Flex Talent vs. Outside Counsel
/in Reports/by competenowLegal departments are feeling the pressure. When urgency and uncertainty converge, rightsourcing the resources at your disposal are how General Counsel are advancing business goals, managing risks, and advancing priorities.
In this playbook, we share 3 examples of how GCs are optimizing the value of their resources – how to optimize your in-house team, what is best handled by outside counsel, and how to lean on your flexible talent partner to get the most out of both.
The upside includes avoiding team burnout and notable savings on recruitment and retention expenses.
Also included is a tactical decision tree titled “Full-Time Hire, Outside Counsel, Or Flexible Talent?” to immediately bring rightsourced thinking to your legal team.
Rightsourcing is “not about always going for the lowest cost option. Instead, it’s about making the decision that will maximize the value your department can deliver,” says Paragon Legal President & COO Jessica Markowitz.
The rise of flexible in-house counsel is game changing for how much your legal team can accomplish. Read on to learn how.
5 Ways to Help You Sell Your CFO on Interim Counsel Services
/in Articles interim counsel services, cfo/by competenowWe get it—your in-house legal team is drowning in work, and all you want is for your CFO to approve interim legal services to ease the burden.
But as a GC, your job is more than just considering your legal team. A huge part of your role is managing your budget. Your CFO expects you to get the highest value for every dollar spent, just like every other department leader.
This mindset of being a strategic partner is the key to successfully pitching flexible legal talent services. Get a “yes” from your CFO by highlighting these interim counsel benefits.
1. You’re getting FTE-caliber support (without FTE costs)
If your in-house team struggles to keep internal clients happy, you’re not alone. In-house legal teams across industries are overwhelmed with work, while GCs struggle to hire more full-time employees because of headcount budget cuts.
Interim counsel saves the day for your team and your bottom line. You customize their hours based on the work you need, unlike employees who must work a full-time schedule no matter what.
Because they’re a dedicated resource, interim legal talent operates more effectively than outside counsel. Law firms charge increasingly expensive rates, and they often work less efficiently than in-house attorneys because they work outside your company.
An interim counsel accomplishes more with less oversight. They work directly with your in-house team and stakeholders, so they get to know the business model, risk tolerance, pace, and people. This knowledge empowers a flex attorney to operate more quickly and comfortably than an outsider.
What talking points about interim counsel’s work should I prepare for my CFO?
Collect testimonials and case studies from the interim legal talent provider you’re considering. Ideally, find anecdotes from companies in your industry with similar in-house legal challenges.
In each case study, highlight what the interim attorneys accomplish and how they’re just as dependable as full-time employees. Consider the cybersecurity startup Synack. Its Paragon flexible attorney David oversaw all contract issues for the company, handled employment questions, and was even available during off-hours for calls.
“He was very responsive in terms of making sure that all of his work was timely and we weren’t missing any response time goals,” said Steve Soper, Synack’s Vice President of Legal.
2. It costs less than outside counsel and full-time hires
Looking for ways to maximize profitability, your CFO will be happy to hear that interim talent is the most cost-effective labor solution for in-house legal teams. Flex talent fees are far lower than outside counsel fees, and companies don’t have to pay for the extra costs associated with hiring an FTE—like benefits, bonuses, equity, and onboarding expenses—because your interim agency covers them.
Outside counsel may be worth the higher cost when dealing with very high-risk matters requiring niche expertise. But when it comes to navigating your org and tackling the day-to-day work of your team, an interim attorney will fit the bill. They have the hard and soft skills needed at a far more reasonable price point than other talent solutions. This value is hard to overstate as in-house teams face increasing budget scrutiny.
What talking points about interim counsel costs should I prepare for my CFO?
Compare the costs of your prospective interim legal talent provider, outside counsel, and full-time hire expenses. The first two are relatively easy to compare since both have set hourly rates, while full-time hire cost breakdowns depend on the type of attorney you need.
Our recent ebook includes several cost comparison charts, including the one below. Download the resource for more cost breakdowns to share with your CFO.
We also recommend asking your prospective interim legal talent provider for examples of client cost savings. At Paragon, for example, one client saved $7M in 2023 alone by using flex talent instead of outside counsel.
3. You only pay for the work you need
The ebbs and flows of legal work are often unpredictable. Sudden business or economic changes can quickly create a busy or slow season for your in-house team. During these times, CFOs are reluctant to hire rapidly because headcount budgets are already strained. Sudden layoffs also aren’t ideal since they crush morale and leave you short-staffed when work peaks again.
Considering the uneven nature of in-house legal work, your CFO will be happy to hear that flex talent is a variable cost. You can increase or decrease your interim counsel’s weekly hours based on your team’s workload. For example, a company might have an interim attorney work 20 hours per week in Q3 and ramp up to 40 weekly hours in Q4 to help cover year-end reporting requirements and sales targets.
You can also adjust the duration of your interim counsel engagement to be as short or long as you like. This flexibility is critical for CFOs who want a buffer if the business’ needs change, whether that’s a workload increase or a drop in revenue.
What do we mean by variable and fixed costs? Variable costs are expenses that a business can adjust based on the products or services it produces, while fixed costs are constant regardless of the products and services produced.
While salaries and headcount are fixed costs, flex talent is a variable cost line item because you can turn it on or off as needed. Proposing a staffing option that keeps your CFO’s fixed cost base low will be music to their ears.
What talking points about interim counsel variable costs should I prepare for my CFO?
Ask your prospective flexible legal talent provider for examples of clients who regularly adjust their interim counsel workload.
At Paragon, we like to tell prospects about a 10-year client. Our flex talent makes up half of their legal staff, and the company adjusts their weekly hours based on their need for the attorneys’ specialties.
Along with pulling client stories, map out the ebbs and flows of your in-house team’s work from the last year to show when interim talent would’ve been a cost-saver or potential revenue-booster. Include predictions about work fluctuations over the next year to make the case for investing in flexible counsel now.
4. Interim talent doesn’t impact legal’s headcount budget or RPE
CFOs are under pressure from investors, capital allocators, and executives to keep headcount costs down. In EY’s 2023 report, 34% of CFOs reported that they planned to make short-term talent and culture budget cuts—the second most popular choice for cuts after ESG spending.
Likewise, CFOs are eager to keep revenue per employee (RPE) high to show stakeholders the company is productive. Investors increasingly value this metric after so many tech companies have struggled to grow profitably in recent years.
Flex legal talent helps CFOs look good on both fronts. Because interim counsel aren’t employees, their costs don’t increase headcount budgets or lower RPE. Instead, CFOs typically classify flex legal talent as variable cost line items.
What talking points about interim counsel’s budgetary benefits should I prepare for my CFO?
Emphasize that hiring full-time attorneys will raise headcount costs. You’ll add base salaries, benefits, payroll, bonuses, hiring, and onboarding costs to your budget, and RPE will most likely be lower. Revenue will stay constant as you add more employees—legal typically generates little to no income—leading to a lower RPE.
Revenue per employee= company revenue / current number of full-time employees
If your team plans on allocating your outside counsel spend to interim talent, highlight this plan to your CFO. They’ll appreciate that you’re not asking for more funding and that using interim counsel won’t impact the overall budget. In fact, shifting your outside counsel budget to flex counsel will likely lower your team’s overall spend.
As you discuss hypothetical budgets, note that your goal isn’t just choosing the cheapest option. Your in-house team is getting the same talent level with flexible counsel as they do with outside counsel or a full-time hire at a fraction of the cost.
5. Interim talent helps reduce attrition and turnover
Over the last year, many in-house attorneys have struggled with unsustainable workloads. Some have even quit their jobs because they’re so burnt out. It’s a serious concern for CFOs, considering that turnover is expensive.
Interim talent releases the pressure valve on in-house teams by taking on existing work, so in-house attorneys have less on their plate. Even better, you get to design your interim counsel’s workflows. For example, you might assign a subset of IP transactions to your flex attorney so that your team can build experience on the complex strategic partnerships or IP transactions they love.
Interim counsel is also okay with moving from department to department as needed. One Paragon contractor, for example, has transitioned through four different teams at the same client over the last five years. This flexibility allows your in-house team to pursue meaningful growth in the organization instead of filling gaps.
One reason why interim counsel can successfully shift between departments is their institutional knowledge. GCs trust these attorneys to work across Legal because they know they have a lay of the land. This experience is also why in-house teams will often re-engage the same flex attorney multiple times.
What talking points about interim counsel and retention should I prepare for my CFO?
Share external research with your CFO about in-house counsel job satisfaction. In this recent Bloomberg study, for example, a higher percentage of in-house attorneys reported heavy workloads as a challenge than law firm attorneys. This data highlights the seriousness of in-house teams’ workloads, helping CFOs understand the need for interim talent.
From there, present your CFO with data about how your in-house lawyers spend their time (you’ll need to ask team members to track their hours). Point out the high-stakes tasks that in-house attorneys need to complete along with the less important projects that interim counsel could handle.
Emphasize that completing this work with flex talent services offers two key benefits: it’s more affordable than hiring FTEs or outside counsel, and it helps you retain valuable in-house attorneys by taking low-level tasks off their plate.
To successfully pitch interim counsel, see yourself as a strategic partner
As you build your case for flex talent, remember you’re not just a lawyer. Your CFO expects you to be a business leader who can explain interim counsel from a P&L perspective.
Use this post to make a persuasive pitch. Highlight how the variable cost structure of interim attorneys is a strong defense against unpredictable cycles without requiring your team to compromise on talent.
Interested in learning more about how you can build a business case for your in-house team’s needs? Check out our GC’s Guide to Rightsourcing.
Paragon Attorney Spotlight: Carrie Gilroy
/in Spotlights/by competenowCaroline “Carrie” Gilroy is a Senior Counsel with Paragon Legal, a premier legal services firm providing interim in-house counsel to businesses with growing legal teams as well as Fortune 500 corporate legal departments. Prior to joining Paragon, Carrie was the Senior Associate General Counsel/Head Counsel, Global at Franchise World Headquarters, LLC (Subway); General Counsel – Chief Legal Officer at Edible Arrangements International, LLC; and General Counsel – Chief Legal Officer at AAA Southern New England.
Carrie, a valued member of the Paragon team since 2021, has earned praise from clients for her ability to quickly add value and for her collaborative approach.
In the latest Paragon Attorney Spotlight, Carrie discusses her personal growth opportunities, what it’s like to work at Paragon, and tips for making the first day of a Paragon engagement go smoothly.
Q: What do you wish more people understood about being a Paragon attorney?
Paragon offers its attorneys the opportunity to do both meaningful and challenging legal work at market compensation, benefit levels, and work-life balance. Paragon negotiates with the client the number of hours the attorney will guarantee weekly availability. Attorneys want this because it provides them certainty that there will be time for outside activities and uninterrupted family time.
Paragon genuinely cares about each attorney’s work satisfaction, development, and well-being/work-life balance. In addition to regular check-ins and surveys by the Paragon corporate team, Paragon provides CLE subscriptions and other CLE opportunities, bar dues reimbursement, PTO and sick leave, 401k, and other benefits.
Q: What qualities do you think it takes to succeed in the Paragon work model?
My skill sets from prior general counsel and in-house experience for several regulated companies and from private law firm practice as a transaction and regulatory compliance lawyer has enabled me to quickly and successfully become embedded in the legal departments for businesses that were new to me: the plant-based food industry (two short-term assignments) and the AR/VR contract manufacturing operations of a technology company (my current long-term assignment).
So, at least for me, significant in-house management experience and broad expertise are at least two requirements for success
Q: You are perpetually arriving as the new kid in school. Any tips for making the first days go smoothly?
At the start of the engagement, set up brief meetings with the legal professionals and clients you will work with to learn how you can best support them. Become familiar with the client’s contract and other systems you will need to use, as well as the processes you will need to follow. Identify the areas/issues on which other legal department or business team SMEs that will need to be consulted. Review sample templates and become familiar with the typically negotiated and/or negotiable issues. Set your calendar to the client’s time zone and be available during that time zone. Also, IT onboarding typically takes longer than anticipated, so get set up as early as possible so you will be ready for work.
Q: How has the interim attorney model grown or expanded since you’ve started working at Paragon?
I started my first Paragon engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic when many legal professionals worked from home. Before the pandemic, remote work was not the norm, and, as a result, companies generally were not comfortable with it. And before this time of remote work, long-term work opportunities with West Coast-based companies would only be realistic for me if I relocated. During the pandemic, companies became more comfortable with remote work arrangements, and there are many success stories.
My current long-term assignment is remote. Even though the company now has a hybrid work policy, I have remained fully remote. Remote and hybrid work models are here to stay.
Paragon Legal Partners with Screens.ai to Advance Generative AI Adoption in the Legal Industry
/in News ai, artificial intelligence, legal AI/by competenowAI-driven contract software provider and premier legal services firm partner to accelerate legal industry’s access to law-trained AI applications
Denver, CO & San Francisco, CA – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Screens.ai, a leading Generative AI contract drafting and review platform, and Paragon Legal, a premier provider of flexible legal talent solutions, expand the Paragon Contract AI Bundle to include the Screens.ai offering and accelerate access to AI technology for the legal industry.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the legal sector by streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and enhancing the overall quality of legal services. Through this partnership, Screens.ai, developed by TermScout, and Paragon Legal are at the forefront of this transformation, empowering legal professionals with cutting-edge AI tools to optimize contracting workflow and deliver exceptional client outcomes.
Screens.ai utilizes AI to automate the review and analysis of contracts, enabling legal professionals to expedite due diligence processes, identify potential risks, and extract key insights from complex legal documents with unprecedented accuracy and speed.
Paragon Legal, known for its innovative approach to delivering legal services, recognizes the immense value that AI brings to the legal industry. Adding Screens.ai to their offering allows Paragon clients to access AI review and redlining features right in Microsoft Word, as well as an M&A bulk contract review feature set for large volume contract review projects, all included in Paragon’s standard fees.
The integration of TermScout’s AI-driven contract review platform into Paragon Legal’s suite of legal solutions marks a significant milestone in the adoption of AI technology within the legal industry. By combining Screens.ai’s cutting-edge AI capabilities with Paragon Legal’s expertise in providing flexible legal support, clients can benefit from faster turnaround times, reduced costs, and enhanced risk management strategies.
Together, Screens.ai and Paragon Legal are paving the way for a new era of legal innovation, where AI offers a safe path to driving efficiency, productivity, and client satisfaction. By embracing AI-powered solutions, law firms and legal departments can stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive landscape, delivering superior results for their clients while maximizing operational performance.
About Screens.ai and TermScout
TermScout and Screens are a collection of solutions that help companies get to contract faster and with less risk. These AI-driven contract review solutions empower legal professionals to streamline contract analysis, mitigate risks, and extract valuable insights from complex legal documents with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. These companies are backed by NFX, GroundUp Ventures, Techstars, The Legal Tech Fund, and more. Learn more about Screens at www.screens.ai.
About Paragon Legal
Paragon is a premier legal services firm that provides interim in-house counsel to businesses with growing legal services needs as well as Fortune 500 corporate legal departments in a wide range of industries. Paragon’s unique model provides legal professionals with meaningful work outside of the traditional path, while also supporting its clients in everything from overflow work and special projects to hiring gaps and leave backfills — all in a cost-effective and flexible manner. To learn more about Paragon Legal, visit paragonlegal.com.
Case Study: How a Thriving Medical Devices Co. Overcomes Legal Hurdles with Strategic Team Expansion
/in Case Studies medical devices, commercial transactions/by competenowClient Challenge
A fast-growing medical devices company’s small but mighty legal team faced tremendous, multifaceted challenges in three areas:
1) Their existing global clinical trials attorney was drowning in work and needed the support of a subject matter expert and skilled negotiator to come in and support their abundant clinical trials work.
2) The commercial contracts team was facing tremendous demand from the business side. They lacked an effective CLM process and procedures to address the growing number of procurement contracts (e.g., DPAs and various IT agreements). They needed to merge their newly developed templates and clauses with their legacy contracts.
3) The privacy team needed a knowledgeable privacy professional to flag privacy issues for compliance with EU and US Privacy laws. Soft skills were critical as the support needed to be highly organized, adaptable to their high-risk tolerance, and able to prioritize essential business decisions.
Paragon’s Solution
After listening to the challenges and needs of the three hiring managers and fully understanding their internal processes issues, goals, and budget, the Paragon team knew they had to have a holistic, multi-step solution that not only addressed bandwidth in three separate areas, but also solved their contract life cycle management/administrative infrastructure bottlenecks. First, they provided the client with an experienced contract manager/attorney with an extensive background in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating multimillion-dollar commercial contracts in various industries. The contract manager was also highly skilled in multiple CLM, ERP, and Document Review solutions. With the contract manager helping to solve their administrative CLM challenges and bringing efficiency to the overall process, Paragon then deployed a 20-year experienced attorney with domestic and international laws within corporate research and development, clinical trials, licensing, and product marketing. After addressing the client’s CLM structural issues and giving the clinical trials team a much-needed lift, Paragon embedded a privacy professional experienced in privacy matters and regulatory compliance in pharmaceutical, healthcare, and medical devices, to help the privacy team ensure compliance with both EU and US privacy laws.
Benefits & Savings For Client
The client was pleased because Paragon did not just rush in to throw three professionals at the problem at once without first working with the client to strategically solve the structural CLM process issues that were impacting all three functions. Instead, Paragon helped the client methodically lay down the framework needed to address their long-term issues. The client was able to iteratively leverage Paragon’s dynamic trio at a combined hourly rate of $605 per hour ($230/$225/$150). This is a considerable value proposition as the equivalent outside law firm team of 3 to 5 subject matter experts and their respective support teams to address the variety of subject matter needs, with niche industry know-how, would easily exceed $2,000 per hour. Over the approximately one-year life cycle anticipated for this engagement, the client will realize a net legal cost saving of over 2.3 million dollars by leveraging Paragon’s flexible, high-caliber talent.