Are you wondering what “alternative legal service providers” are and how outsourcing to them can benefit your business? I’m giving some background on this no longer “alternative” service model, it’s benefits to you and how it came about in today’s blog post!
Thirty years ago, when I was an entry-level paralegal, corporate legal departments outsourcing options were limited primarily to law firms and temporary staffing agencies. Law firms have always been a valuable, but expensive, option. And temps had a costly institutional learning curve. Once you invested in a good temp, it was unlikely he or she would be available the next time around.
When it came to corporate law, my area of expertise, it was common to outsource business filings to large national service companies like CT Corporation and Corporation Service Company. Those large service companies were indispensable at the time. Without them, obtaining state forms and submitting business filings were difficult, especially for filings outside of your home state. Submitting a filing by mail was risky. There was no contact person on the receiving end to ensure the filing was successfully submitted. CT/CSC provided “feet on the street” and white-out in hand, ensuring the entire filing process was as expeditious and smooth as possible.
Fast forward thirty years, with the astonishing technological boom, outsourcing options abound and include virtual paralegal services. This viable, rapidly growing segment of the legal industry has become known as “alternative legal service providers” (ALSPs). As of 2017, ALSPs accounted for $10.7b in revenue, with projected future annual growth of 24%, and for good reason!
What Are Alternative Service Providers?
Essentially ALSPs provide specialized expertise in high-demand practice areas that support corporate legal departments. The five segments include: The Big Four (i.e., Price Waterhouse Coopers, Deloitte), Captive Legal Process Outsources (i.e. WilmerHale, Clifford Chance), Independent LPO (i.e. Consilio, Integreon), Managed Services (i.e. Thomsom Reuters Legal Managed Services), and Contract and Staffing Services such as the many small and large outside general counsel providers and Velawcity Legal Support Services. The commonly sought specialized expertise consists of corporate compliance and business filings, contract administration, IP management, document review, document drafting and e-discovery.
Velawcity’s ALSP offerings include:
- Corporate Compliance and Business Filings
- Transaction and Due Diligence Support
- Securities and blue sky filings
- Intellectual Property management and filings
- Global filings and apostilles
- Secured Lending and UCC financing statements
- Contract administration and management
- Litigation support
Learn more about how Velawcity Legal Support Services can rescue your bottom line.
Benefits of Alternative Legal Service Providers
While cost-saving is always a chief objective for any General Counsel, the value of ALSPs also includes:
- Access to expertise that is lacking in the internal team
- Freeing up the internal team to use resources more efficiently
- Meeting peak demands without increasing overhead
As an ALSP, Velawcity Legal Support Services provides:
- Continuity – Velawcity clients are assigned one paralegal to manage your account, capture your institutional knowledge and lead all of your projects. This increases efficiency and value. Our experience allows us to hit the ground running, reducing the need for training. Our work product is always consistent with your firm’s or company’s look and feel. And your satisfaction is always guaranteed.
- Expertise – Velawcity is your trusted partner. Our senior paralegals have over 10 years’ experience working in law firms or corporations. Their specialties range from all things corporate, including entity formation, business filings of all kinds, corporate compliance, transactional management from M&A to secured lending, private and public company securities filings, contract review and administration, and litigation.
- Cost-Effective – Everything Velawcity does and every method Velawcity uses aims to increase your revenues and decrease your costs. Our end goal is to ultimately Rescue Your Bottom Line. In addition to having a seasoned, top-notch paralegal staff, Velawcity has a proprietary database of forms and filing methods that increase efficiency and reduce costs, and further adds value to our clients by using alternative methods to file and retrieve documents in all 50 states. This saves up to 50% of the cost of using larger service companies while delivering impressive turnaround times and communication.
As the founder and president of Velawcity, I think Velawcity is an exemplary ALSP for corporate compliance and business filings. But I’ll let our clients speak for us!
No Longer “Alternative”
Alternative Legal Service Providers are no longer an “alternative” option. They are rapidly becoming a standard option for both firms and corporations due to the specialized expertise, cost-effectiveness and continuity they provide. Contact us to learn more about how Velawcity can assist your firm or corporate legal department in managing workload and controlling costs!
Written by Denise Annunciata,
President of Velawcity Legal Support Services
