How Can Flexible Talent Rescue Legal Departments from the Great Resignation?

More than Money: How Flexible Talent Optimizes Risk and People Management

While flexible talent enables more value from every budgeted dollar, cost alone will never be the yardstick by which GCs measure departmental performance. True legal value involves the optimization of spend, risk, and people management, the latter of which is particularly relevant in a talent market where demand outweighs supply. That said, all three are equally important measures that reveal the benefits of engaging a blended team of fixed and flexible talent.

Risk Management

As the pandemic has revealed, unprecedented legal issues often emerge suddenly. Legal departments that rely on permanent employees alone do not possess the speed or flexibility required to address emerging issues in a fast-changing marketplace.

As events unfold, legal needs to change just as rapidly. GCs must be able to match the right in-house-ready talent to current legal matters in a real-time and reactive manner.

Legal departments with access to an already-integrated, flexible bench have the muscle memory needed to seamlessly respond to an unexpected event at scale. The ability to sync resources to a fast-changing landscape significantly enhances risk management and measurably improves legal outcomes.

People Management

GCs must also consider how to create value through the operational management of their talent. A blended team of fixed and flexible staff drives enhanced value creation. 

We already know that flexible talent mitigates the attrition issues associated with the Great Resignation. A well-honed bench of flexible talent, composed of lawyers with institutional knowledge of the legal department and the organization it serves, can immediately and seamlessly onboard to fill gaps.

But the talent management benefits go well beyond that. The integration of flexible lawyers within the department ensures that the core team remains focused on the work that directly aligns with the strategic objectives of the enterprise. In addition, leaner permanent teams create more growth opportunities for talented lawyers within the internal structure.

Finally, hiring is a significant commitment. Flexible talent provides a "try-before-you-buy" cushion, giving GCs the opportunity to assess the types of softer skills that are only appreciable once a lawyer is in-seat. Trialing talent before converting that lawyer to full-time employment is not only an overlooked benefit to flexible talent, but is also a risk-mitigating, pragmatic model for legal team hiring.