By: Jay Harrington
It’s common for law firms to treat headcount as fixed and demand as variable. The result is lawyers working longer hours when demand spikes and the firm carrying excess capacity when it slows.
Flexible legal talent—experienced contract attorneys brought in on a temporary basis—offers another approach: maintaining a strong permanent team while adding experienced lawyers when workload or the need for specialized expertise calls for it.
Here are eight ways flexible legal talent can strengthen a law firm’s staffing strategy and overall performance.
1. Protect client service during busy periods.
Winning new work is always a good problem to have, unless it comes at the expense of serving existing clients.
When teams are already at capacity, every new matter competes with work already underway. The team’s capacity is spread across more clients and matters, and something must give. That “something” is typically response and turnaround times, and the level of attention each matter receives.
Adding experienced capacity during peak periods helps firms take on new work without forcing existing clients to bear the costs.
2. Give partners more time to build the business.
When matters become understaffed, partners naturally step in to handle work that should have been delegated and spend more time managing workflow than developing client relationships.
That’s not the best use of a partner’s time. A far better use of that time is meeting clients, strengthening relationships, and pursuing new business.
Flex talent helps partners spend more time doing the work only partners can do.
3. Add capacity without adding permanent fixed costs.
Hiring permanent lawyers is an investment in future demand. Sometimes that’s exactly the right decision. Other times, the need is temporary: a large transaction, a surge in litigation, or an unusually busy quarter.
Flex talent allows firms to match staffing to workload without making every increase in demand a permanent increase in payroll.
4. Reduce the strain that leads to attorney burnout and turnover.
Every firm experiences busy periods. Problems arise when those periods stop being temporary.
When lawyers spend months operating at full capacity, fatigue builds, and some eventually decide they’d rather work somewhere else.
Flex talent won’t eliminate turnover, but it can reduce one of its most common causes: sustained overload.
5. Preserve the work that develops your associates.
One misconception about flex talent is that it replaces associate work. In practice, it often protects it.
When teams become stretched, mid-level and even senior associates often spend time handling document review, diligence, or other overflow work simply because someone must do it. Bringing in temporary lawyers to absorb that excess allows your associates to focus on the substantive work that builds judgment, confidence, and prepares them for the next stage of their careers.
6. Handle predictable staffing gaps without disruption.
Whether it’s parental leave, medical leave, or a lawyer resigning before a replacement is hired, every firm must deal with temporary staffing gaps.
Yet many firms still respond by redistributing work across already busy teams. Flex talent offers a simpler solution: fill the gap until the permanent team is back in place.
7. Support lateral partners while their practice ramps up.
The first year after a lateral hire is full of uncertainty. Some clients move to the lawyer’s new firm immediately. Others take time. Some never move at all.
Hiring new associates in anticipation of the need to support a lateral partner’s book of business can create unnecessary risk.
Flex talent gives firms the ability to support new partners as their practice ramps up, then make longer-term hiring decisions once demand is clear.
8. Make permanent hiring decisions with better information.
A résumé and interview can tell you about a lawyer’s background and credentials. Only working together tells you how they’ll perform.
Many firms have found excellent permanent hires by first engaging lawyers on a flexible basis. It gives both sides the opportunity to see what it’s like to work together before making a long-term commitment. When the fit is right, the firm can hire with far more confidence than a traditional interview process allows.
Law firms have never faced more pressure to balance competing priorities: delivering exceptional client service, controlling costs, retaining talent, and continuing to grow. Those pressures aren’t going away.
Client demand will always fluctuate. Lawyers will leave. Hiring will never be an exact science. The firms that navigate those realities most successfully are the ones with the flexibility to respond without compromising client service or overburdening their people. Flexible legal talent is one practical way to build that flexibility.
About the Author
Jay is the leader and founding Partner of Latitude’s Detroit office. A former Big Law attorney and founder of a boutique law firm, he has spent more than 25 years practicing law and advising lawyers and legal organizations on strategy, productivity, and practice growth. He is the author of The Productivity Pivot, The Essential Associate, and One of a Kind.
