As the end of the calendar year approaches, the budgeting/planning process for the 2021 fiscal year is underway in many organizations. One unknown for many businesses is anticipated legal expenditures, especially in light of the continued pandemic-related financial disruption that is affecting many industries. Incorporating alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) into department and corporate budgets at the planning level can help organizations plan for proactive and reactive legal spending while reducing budget dollar allocations for internal contract attorney staffing and outside counsel expenditures.
ALSPs, which include legal process outsourcers (LPOs), staffing companies, managed legal services, and accounting/audit firms, offer specialized, value-driven solutions and services for businesses in any industry. These organizations leverage technologies and expertise to provide contracted-for deliverables in an efficient, cost-effective manner when compared to retaining work in-house or contracting with outside legal counsel. Benefits of including ALSPs in the budgeting process include:
- Reducing legal spending. More than half of legal department budgeted spending typically goes to outside counsel. Sending task-oriented, high-volume work such as document review, eDiscovery, and contract management to ALSPs can result in significant budget savings.
- Ensuring global compliance. As consumer privacy regulations and other mandates continue to grow in number and scope around the globe, it is more important than ever for companies and legal departments to ensure compliance. ALSPs can help organizations with maintaining their compliance standards, lowering the costs associated with regulatory compliance.
- Timeliness and efficiency. Working with ALSPs creates resource efficiencies, because their organizations are designed for flexible staffing and can scale quickly to meet required project timelines. Because ALSPs often specialize or focus in the services they provide, they are typically able to commit to short deliverable windows.
To effectively incorporate ALSPs in your organization’s 2021 budget, start by evaluating current resources and identifying tasks and projects that could be handled by an ALSP as opposed to relying on outside counsel or on internal resources. Approaching budgeting by analyzing and classifying work in this manner should provide stronger, more detailed, and more reliable budget estimates.
Baer Reed provides reliable, efficient, and effective outsourced business and legal services. Contact us to learn more.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.