Sarah Irwin
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💭 How to get control of outside counsel spend

💭 How to get control of outside counsel spend

1 min. read

Sarah Irwin
July 05, 2025

No one prepares you for managing legal spend in-house.

This is your crash course - starting with outside counsel:

1️⃣ Use alternatives
Process-heavy, repetitive tasks should be outsourced to an ALSP or replaced with AI / automation - both reduce overhead costs fast.

2️⃣ “In-source”
Take a long hard look at the work OC is actually doing. You've probably got them on low-value work at a high price point - bring that back in-house. Save your budget for the stuff where you really need their talent and deep expertise.

3️⃣ Small is beautiful
BigLaw doesn't always = big results. A small or mid-sized firm may be a better fit.

4️⃣ Limit access & comms
The fewer people on your team that have access to outside counsel the better. Too many cooks can lead to overlaps, confusion, out-of-scope work, conflicting instructions etc. This works both ways: limit the number of fee earners contacting your team too.

5️⃣ Close fast
Letting matters drag on can lead to doubling up on work; outside counsel needing to read back in to see where they left off; new fee earners not having context of your matter; scope can evolve etc.

6️⃣ Be clear on scope
Scope creep is a huge offender - both you and outside counsel need to be proactive in setting expectations from the start and managing spend as you go. Be clear on fee estimates. Ask for regular updates and nip any confusion in the bud.

7️⃣ Use billing guidelines
Define what you will and will NOT pay for to set expectations and an agreed framework for tracking spend. They also reduce errors AND you'll get in your finance team's good books!

8️⃣ Actually discuss fees
Forgetting to chat about fees happens a lot - sometimes understandably, sometimes because money can be an awkward topic. But hoping outside counsel will keep fees low and work within your guidelines is a terrible strategy, so make sure you're proactive about this from the get go. And find a way to take the emotion out of talking about money.

9️⃣ ALSPs FTW
I cannot speak highly enough about them. They rescued me from burnout. Use them for repetitive redlining, process-heavy work, and stuff like legal tech selection and implementation. Save your outside counsel budget for what matters - deep expertise, complex deals, moral support.

🔟 Legal Ops FTW
Many GCs haven't operationalized ther legal function and don't run it like a business. You need to get to grips with finances asap. Learn the lingo. Audit what is and isn't working in your processes and areas where you needlessly spend too much money. AND areas that work well that justify investing in.

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by Sarah Irwin