As clients adapt the way they source and purchase legal services, competition and collaboration among new and traditional providers is increasing. In the decade since the Great Recession, when alternative options really came onto the scene with the promise of offering a better way, the numbers and types of providers have exploded. Over the next year, we aim to bring clarity around who those alternative providers are, what they are offering, who they are representing, where they get their talent and what piece of the market they have and could attain. You'll meet the players, hear from clients, see examples of collaboration, learn the offerings and gain clarity into this rapidly growing segment of the legal services market.
Frank Ready | April 07, 2021
While law firms are onboarding automation, data analytics and other technologies in an effort to improve client services, many C-suites still perceive ALSPs as the more efficient and tech-friendly service option.
Frank Ready | March 23, 2021
There's money to be made in the contract managed services market, with ALSPs likely taking the lead over law firms due to their emphasis on process and technology. However, the expertise law firms bring to the table can't be written off, especially for clients with complex agreements.
Victoria Hudgins | March 01, 2021
While IT providers' negotiations can lead to discount perks to small firms, they can also lead to awkward conversations and rescinding recommendations.
Victoria Hudgins | February 25, 2021
Corporate buyers aren't concerned about alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) employing a mix of full-time and contract workers. While faces may change, legal departments' main demand is that domain expertise remains consistent.
Frank Ready | February 12, 2021
The velocity with which ALSPs can move the hiring process as well as their growing prestige within the legal industry could make them more of an appealing prospect for legal talent.
Dan Packel | February 11, 2021
Law firms' captive ALSPs saw the most growth from 2017 to 2019 compared with other ALSPs, according to a new report.
Dan Clark | December 29, 2020
"There is no constraint in terms of flexibility," Epiq's managing director of legal transformation services, Tom Finke, said of the company's new service, Epiq Counsel.
Rhys Dipshan | December 23, 2020
A look back at the ALSP hires that allowed Deloitte to vastly expand its reach in the legal market in 2020.
Frank Ready | December 17, 2020
While legal departments are already making use of ALSPs, there are still some basic criteria that providers have to hit before they can get the job.
Frank Ready | December 08, 2020
While law firm ALSPs may have experienced some temporary losses in the early days of the pandemic, many could be poised to come back stronger as clients look for ways to streamline the delivery of their legal advisory and technology-based needs.
Vanessa Blum Zack Needles | November 13, 2020
This year’s boom in special purpose acquisition companies is spinning off a ton of corporate work and rippling into other practice areas.
Frank Ready | November 10, 2020
Deloitte's 2020 Legal Department Survey found that despite budget restrictions, increased workloads courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic is driving more departments to embrace technological transformation or engage the services of alternative legal service providers.
Christopher Niesche | November 06, 2020
The Linklaters-aligned firm is aiming to find solutions for compliance and contract creation.
Simon Lock | November 03, 2020
The legal arm of the Big Four accountant will add 29 partners as part of the deal, significantly expanding its U.K. presence.
Dan Packel | October 28, 2020
LeClairRyan was already on its last legs when it negotiated a joint venture with UnitedLex. In the end, its creditors paid the price, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Eva von Schaper | October 27, 2020
The addition of a non-lawyer to the partnership comes as part of a major effort to grow the firm's tax advisory practice in Germany.
Christopher Niesche | October 16, 2020
The firm plans to tap into demand from small and medium businesses and will offer the same tech-driven fixed-fee legal advice model as it does in Australia.
Dan Clark | October 14, 2020
"You need to build an ecosystem within legal that serves the different needs of the department," Eric Gorman, a partner at KPMG, said. "There are specific technologies that don't always fit together and they're not adopted the right way."
Patrick Smith | October 13, 2020
While the firm stated the move to a new vendor will not impact existing staff positions, firms in general continue to outsource back office functions as they rework their internal business processes.
Phillip Bantz | October 09, 2020
“We can demonstrate a much, much higher threshold of diversity,” said Axiom global head of legal Catherine Kemnitz.
Dan Packel | October 06, 2020
Thirty-five firms out of the Am Law 100 have launched captive alternative legal service providers, according to the NewLaw practice at Baretz+Brunelle.
Amy Guthrie | October 05, 2020
Rodrigo Castillo Cottin, who joins Rimon from Baker McKenzie, says he was drawn by the firm's 'modern approach towards the practice of law.'
Christopher Niesche | September 25, 2020
More firms are offering "adjacent services," as clients express a desire for broader advice and services.
Dan Packel | September 25, 2020
One firm fielded a call from an accounting firm curious about a partnership, while another is weighing a subsidiary with nonlawyer shareholders. But regulations governing the new reality still need to be clarified.
Rhys Dipshan | September 08, 2020
Utah's Supreme Court unanimously approved Rocket Lawyers application to join the state's pilot program, which allows nonlawyers to provide certain traditional legal services and authorizes new legal business models.
Simon Lock | September 07, 2020
A senior U.K. trio from Elevate are to join the firm's department focused on assisting in-house legal teams.
Dan Packel | September 01, 2020
From opening the door to legal advertising in 1977 to allowing nonlawyers an equity stake in law firms this year, Arizona is shaping the way for an evolution of legal services. Consumer law is lining up first ... but what's next?
Frank Ready | August 28, 2020
Service providers or tech vendors that concentrate strictly on legal could potentially find themselves at a bit of a disadvantage as corporate legal departments are pushed toward an increasingly multidisciplinary and collaborative approach.
Victoria Hudgins | August 25, 2020
All eyes were on Utah when it allowed nonlawyers to perform more legal services and share fees with lawyers for the first time in the U.S. Now states will closely watch how Utah lawyers' revenue and consumer complaints fare in the new "sandbox."
Victoria Hudgins | August 20, 2020
While a law firm's alternative legal service provider (ALSP) may be more expensive, corporate legal departments says there's more than just the vendor's Big Law backing that is appealing.
Rhys Dipshan | August 18, 2020
With Carrick Capital as its new majority shareholder, Factor plans to almost double its staffing levels with a particular focus on industry specialists.
Frank Ready | August 06, 2020
ALSPs have become an increasingly prominent fixture of the legal ecosystem, but corporate legal departments aren't embarking on that relationship blindly. Everything from an ALSP's reputation to the amount of supervision a matter could require comes into play.
Meganne Tillay | July 17, 2020
The provider, which currently has a presence in the U.K., Asia and the U.S., is aiming to shore up its offering post-Brexit.
Victoria Hudgins | July 15, 2020
Ed Sohn formerly served in EY Law and Thomson Reuters' ranks to deliver innovation to the legal industry. Now he's joined Factor, where the goal is still to deliver innovation but now without competing for a voice in a large accounting firm.
Frank Ready | July 13, 2020
Deloitte announced the launch of a new Legal Business Services practice on Monday that includes the talents of several former ALSP or legal technology professionals. As the Big Four continues to aggressively pursue new legal expertise, ALSPs could find themselves dealing with a shallower talent pool.
Victoria Hudgins | March 30, 2020
As ALSPs venture into more advanced legal work, most won't be able to tout their malpractice insurance coverage, absent a law firm's blessing.
Patrick Smith | April 06, 2021
Whether an ALSP is associated with a law firm or not, it has to "play nice" with firms when pitching to legal department clients.
Dan Packel | March 29, 2021
With these new partnerships, law firm lawyers devise the high-level strategy and outside providers execute on it.
Phillip Bantz | March 19, 2021
“I tend to look for the folks who are a little more innovation-forward, even if it costs a little more, because at the end of the day it’s still going to be less than a law firm," said Mike Russell, head of global legal operations at Expedia Group Inc.
Victoria Hudgins | February 18, 2021
From setting roles early to understanding the dynamic captive ALSPs may play in quality concerns, legal ops professionals and a former GC offer their strategies for a smooth collaboration.
Yvonne Nath, ALSP Advisor | January 28, 2021
'White labeling' has been around for decades. White labeling allows law firms and other legal service providers to try something new, quickly, and with little investment.
Victoria Hudgins | January 20, 2021
The Big Four wants recent law school graduates that not only understand the law, but corporate strategies that can enhance services for clients. Some law schools are listening and they are adjusting their curriculum to keep up.
Frank Ready | January 06, 2021
Epiq announced last week that it was a launching a new supplemental staffing service geared toward corporate legal departments. Other legal vendors might be eager to follow in the e-discovery provider's footsteps.
Victoria Hudgins | December 28, 2020
Law firms are diversifying their revenue streams with the creation of alternative legal service providers (ALSPs). LTN highlights a few of the law subsidiaries that have recently made news, along with the variety of tasks they're looking to perform.
Rhys Dipshan | December 22, 2020
Law firms and in-house aren't the only career paths for legal professionals. Here's a look back at some of the tech talent ALSPs hired this year.
Dan Packel | December 01, 2020
Captives focused on e-discovery, alternative staffing and automated legal expertise all witnessed clients back off amid the widespread economic uncertainty of late March and April, but interest then rebounded.
Yvonne Nath, ALSPadvisor.com | November 24, 2020
Taking a cue from this year’s ABA Legal Technology Survey Report, Yvonne Nath explores why security concerns should not stop law firms from exploring opportunities to leverage ALSPs.
Frank Ready | November 20, 2020
These days, law firms and the Big Four are both vying for the attention of legal departments who want to work with providers that can demonstrate a solid understanding of their business. But while law firms may be making strides, the Big Four's institutional knowledge remains formidable.
Dan Packel | November 05, 2020
In the wake of new details about the UnitedLex-LeClairRyan debacle, third-party vendors stress the importance of vetting firms' books and motivations.
Yvonne Nath, ALSPadvisor.com | October 29, 2020
Will ALSPs be able to maintain competitive pricing, culture, and strategy as they grow through expensive lateral hiring sprees? We have seen how this can play out in law firms, though ALSPs can be more highly leveraged with outside investment and they can eventually go public... but will investors see a positive ROI? Will clients?
Victoria Hudgins | October 06, 2020
While alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) are unique in demanding innovative problem-solving abilities of their attorney, such skills are also being required in more corporate legal departments and law firms.
Victoria Hudgins | September 29, 2020
Enterprising corporate legal departments taking on e-discovery internally doesn't mean less business for ALSPs. But it does mean a different client relationship.
Victoria Hudgins | September 25, 2020
Alternative legal service providers' ability to quickly hire legal personnel has always been the sector's specialty. By leveraging legal technology, permanent head count has become less of a necessity, or client demand.
Yvonne Nath, LawVision | September 23, 2020
A wholly owned Captive LPO will be more closely tied to the strategy and culture of the parent law firm, but it's not the only model that can address the goals and provide the benefits of a having a law firm subsidiary.
Rhys Dipshan | September 16, 2020
While alternative legal service providers have disrupted the legal market, law firms are proving more resilient to larger changes—and adept at retaining their clients.
Victoria Hudgins | September 09, 2020
While new alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), or those that have launched a new service, are fast building up their contract teams, most established ALSPs aren't in a rush to add contract tech experts to their staff.
Victoria Hudgins | September 08, 2020
For legal tech companies, counting an ALSP as a client or partner can have a significant "multiplier effect" in terms of product exposure and adoption.
Frank Ready | August 27, 2020
ALSPs continue to embrace the use of new technologies within their services, but even the ongoing competition generated from those outlets may not be enough to push law firms to up their own tech infrastructure before it's too late.
Lucian T. Pera, Adams & Reese and Yvonne Nath, LawVision | August 20, 2020
The language Chambers uses in a recent report strongly suggests they are testing their audience’s reaction to ranking ALSPs like law firms. What does that mean for the broader legal marketplace?
Victoria Hudgins | August 13, 2020
Budget realities and the move to remote work movement have accelerated the use of alternative legal service providers. But not all legal departments and law firms are comfortable leveraging these new law companies.
Frank Ready | August 12, 2020
ALSPs have made it easier for legal departments to gain valuable data-driven insights. But those same clients may be struggling to articulate similar demands to their law firms, many of which still aren't feeling the pressure to upgrade their analytic capabilities.
Zach Warren | August 05, 2020
While most agree that New Law provides a large umbrella, it’s also one with a purpose: augmenting and supporting the traditional path of law with increased value.
Frank Ready | August 05, 2020
Law firms have tried to stake out a distinct territory inside the legal ecosystem as providers of high-end advisory services, but as the demand for process-oriented work continues to fuel ALSPs, firms could nevertheless find their footprint shrinking.
Dan Packel | August 05, 2020
“Law firms have to stop seeing things through their own prism—what’s good for us. Instead they need to look for what is in the best interest of the clients,” says one former firm managing partner. And increasingly, that means collaborating with outside service providers.
Victoria Hudgins Phillip Bantz | July 27, 2020
Despite growing their exposure, alternative legal services providers aren’t forced to meet wildly different expectations from their various legal clients. Technology and scalability are also consistent components reviewed during most vetting processes.
Victoria Hudgins | July 08, 2020
On the surface, more law firms offering advanced data analysis and consulting services are invading the alternative legal service provider (ALSP) market. However, firms are powering these endeavors with ALSPs' technology and resources.
Dan Packel | June 25, 2020
Faced with an expanding field of competitors, law firms are branching out, forming ancillary businesses that they hope can help them secure a place in the growing market for alternative legal services.
Frank Ready | June 03, 2020
Many ALSPs are attempting to increase the complexity of their service offerings to capture a bigger slice of the market, but the skilled labor and extra attention those tasks often require could threaten any cost advantages they may have over law firms.
Frank Ready | May 29, 2020
ALSPs may offer corporations and legal departments a more comprehensive set of services for their investment, but legal tech providers are already finding willing customers for their products in those very same law companies.
Rhys Dipshan | May 22, 2020
“Best in breed” and “best in class” designations may be becoming anachronisms in an era where legal technology is often customized, and the tech products ALSPs have in their toolkit is determined as much by clients as the service providers themselves.
Victoria Hudgins | April 08, 2020
Facing tightening budgets, legal departments and law firms alike are already eyeing ALSPs and more legal technology. What effect that will have on the future market, however, is still uncertain.
Frank Ready | April 24, 2020
For firms eager to improve their tech-enabled services, the prospect of regulatory changes may be more of a mirage than a viable source of investment capital.
Zack Needles Karen Sloan | January 29, 2021
The founder and leader of Morgan Lewis’ eData practice discusses outsourcing vs. insourcing, what it takes to deal with massive amounts of data in an efficient and cost-effective way for clients and why artificial intelligence will actually make attorneys more valuable.
Zach Warren | January 07, 2021
Many attorneys, technologists and legal experts expect continued change in the legal ecosystem in 2021. But it's not just alternative legal service providers—it's how law firms and corporate legal departments fundamentally interact with their data, their people, and even each other.
Dan Packel | December 09, 2020
The firm's IncuBaker program was envisioned as a "voice of reason" as legal technology floods the market.
Dan Packel | November 18, 2020
"I always joke that if we did actually spin out into a subsidiary, we’d actually be one of the biggest, most mature and most successful e-discovery ALSPs out there," Blair says.
Victoria Hudgins | November 16, 2020
Law companies' biggest battle isn't competition with law firms' "captive" ALSPs, says Factor's new VP, Michael Callier. Instead, ALSPs need to earn trust to broaden adoption and disrupt a long-standing culture.
Simon Lock | November 04, 2020
The deal to double the Big Four firm's U.K. legal head count marks the culmination of 12 months of negotiations.
Frank Ready | October 30, 2020
Stephen Allen has experience working in both a law firm and consultancy environment. But as the ALSP looks to update its consulting services to meet the present day needs of legal departments, can it take on the resources of the Big Four?
Christopher Niesche | October 23, 2020
Stuart Fuller says that the Asia-Pacific region, in particular, is strong and that legal work in Europe and in the Americas has been increasing.
Frank Ready | October 14, 2020
Steven Walker joined Deloitte's Legal Business Services practice this month as a managing director—and he doesn't think that COVID-19 will hold legal departments back from taking an innovative new approach to procuring services.
Simon Lock | September 14, 2020
Nick Roome discusses the future of remote working, his division's expansion plans and what gives KPMG an advantage over traditional law firms.
Zach Warren | September 04, 2020
In this Q&A for its Breaking Tradition series, Law.com catches up with Justin Hectus, CIO and CISO at Keesal, Young & Logan and CIO at its spinoff tech company KP Labs. Hectus explains why the firm separated KP Labs as a distinct company, and the positives and negatives that come with law firm tech spinoffs.
Zach Warren | August 25, 2020
In this Q&A for its Breaking Tradition series, Law.com catches up with Jared Coseglia, CEO and founder of TRU Staffing Partners. He explains why tech jobs are shifting from law firms to ALSPs, and why law students need permission not to have to practice law.
Zach Warren | August 17, 2020
In this Q&A for its Breaking Tradition series, Law.com catches up with Lucy Bassli, founder and principal of InnoLegal Services and former assistant general counsel at Microsoft. She tells why she went “irregular” out on her own, and why transparency and trust are important in alternative legal service provider relationships.
Zach Warren | August 05, 2020
In this Q&A for its Breaking Tradition series, Law.com catches up with NetApp director of legal operations Connie Brenton. She explains what ALSPs need to have in order to be considered for a job—and why ALSPs may drop the "A" altogether.
Zach Warren | August 05, 2020
Law.com catches up with Troutman Pepper eMerge managing director Alison Grounds for its Breaking Tradition series. In this Q&A, Grounds shows the benefits of being connected with a major firm, and how an on-site due diligence project turned into a tech-savvy engagement.
Zach Warren | August 05, 2020
Law.com catches up with Integreon CEO Bob Rowe for its Breaking Tradition series. In this Q&A, Rowe explains why the “alternative” designation doesn't work for his company, and where legal services providers fall in the legal value chain.
Victoria Hudgins | May 14, 2020
Level 2 Legal chief strategy and innovation officer Leigh Vickery is not only a champion for legal innovation, but a champion for her own queso product line. In a discussion with Legaltech News, Vickery explains the similarities between the food and legal industry and the challenges facing ALSPs during a recession .
Victoria Hudgins | April 06, 2020
During a chat with Legaltech News, Litera evangelist Alma Asay discussed the new economic challenges faced by legal tech and how legal's recent surge in remote working may not lead to greater cloud computing adoption.
Dan Packel | January 22, 2021
Elevate posted its 2020 performance last week. And founder Liam Brown has some thoughts about what the Big Four’s growing interest in legal work has for his business and the wider sector.
Dan Packel | January 08, 2021
Fueled with $75 million in venture capital, Atrium was a high-profile effort to apply the lessons of Silicon Valley to the legal industry. Then Justin Kan pulled the plug.
Zach Warren | December 03, 2020
Today's law firms that are trying to marry law and technology through alternative legal services are finding it's important to not choose one or the other.
Vanessa Blum Zack Needles | October 30, 2020
With clients demanding more cost-effective solutions, traditional law firms are positioning themselves to compete with New Law providers.
Zach Warren | October 29, 2020
Markets that were previously the purview of only the largest law firms are beginning to see competition that isn't only local firms, but also fellow multinational firms presenting alternative structures.
Zach Warren | October 01, 2020
The first Law.com Barometer breaks down how alternative legal service providers are gobbling up talent—and what that means for law firms.
Zach Warren | August 05, 2020
There are many questions left unanswered about where New Law entrants fit into the preexisting legal space. Our goal for the next 12 months in the Breaking Tradition series will be to further understand New Law and its past, present and future.
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Legal Speak is a weekly podcast that makes sense of what’s happening in the legal industry.