When a legal department faces a resource crunch, the standard playbook often defaults to two main paths: adding headcount or retaining a traditional law firm. Both assume the immediate challenge is simply scaling raw capacity.
Flexible legal talent offers another way to meet that need, bringing both additional capacity and experienced judgment to specific initiatives, critical decisions, or shifting workloads.
This approach aligns with Priori Co-Founder and CEO Basha Rubin’s perspective that flexible talent can serve not just as a commodity layer, but as a key judgment layer.
Decoupling Execution from Judgment
Basha describes legal work as coming apart into two layers: execution and judgment. Execution is repricing down as AI absorbs search, review, and first drafts, and it’s becoming contestable — some BigLaw firms will keep selling it as a product, but plenty of other institutions can handle it too.
Judgment, meanwhile, may retain or increase its value. The ability to interpret an answer, understand its implications, and take responsibility for a recommendation remains valuable whether counsel works at a traditional firm, a boutique, or within a legal department.
From this perspective, legal value increasingly includes deciding what to do with an answer: how to contextualize it, act on it, and own the decision.
Odini Gogo, who practices as a flexible attorney after a career spanning BigLaw and in-house roles, draws the same line from inside the work. Anyone can tell a business what it can’t do. The better answer, he says, is “here’s the risk, and this is how we can get to ‘yes’, and here is what I recommend, and if we do A, B, C, we can get to what you’re thinking” — not “here’s the risk,” full stop.
That kind of guidance draws on an understanding of the business, its priorities, and the trade-offs it is prepared to make. Flexible counsel can bring that perspective alongside the capacity to get work done.
Perspectives from Practitioners
Gogo’s account highlights the importance of orientation: understanding the risks and issues facing a business, learning how the organization operates, and finding ways to navigate it effectively.
Anjali Sareen, who also practices flexibly after an in-house career, describes how that relationship can develop over an engagement. As counsel demonstrates their value and builds trust, they can become closely integrated with the business and the in-house legal team.
Both practitioners see value in BigLaw training without treating it as a prerequisite. Gogo credits firm experience with developing rigor, precision, responsiveness, and the ability to manage complex matters under pressure. He also emphasizes the contribution of in-house experience to advising a business effectively.
Sareen similarly highlights the importance of working toward a practical path forward. Her experience points to a mindset of partnering with the business, understanding its objectives, and helping it navigate the legal considerations involved.
For teams evaluating flexible talent, these perspectives suggest looking beyond availability and credentials alone. Experience understanding how businesses operate, and applying legal judgment within that context, can be an important part of an attorney’s contribution.
How to Engage Flexible Talent for Judgment
For teams looking to use flexible talent as a judgment layer as well as a source of capacity, three approaches are worth considering.
1. Evaluate practical business experience alongside firm credentials
Look for experience relevant to the work and the organization. Depending on the engagement, that might include navigating internal business pressures, managing cross-functional trade-offs, or advising executive stakeholders.
Firm training and in-house experience can each bring value. The goal is to understand how an attorney’s background prepares them to address the decisions, relationships, and risks involved in the engagement.
2. Provide business context alongside the assignment
Experienced counsel can contribute more informed advice when they understand the business behind the work. Share relevant background on risk tolerance, company culture, and business goals, and connect them with the stakeholders they will support.
The depth of onboarding will vary with the engagement. Even for a focused assignment, understanding why the work matters can help counsel identify relevant risks and tailor recommendations to the organization’s needs.
3. Define desired outcomes alongside hours and capacity needs
Hours and availability remain useful planning tools. Teams can also clarify what a successful engagement should accomplish, whether that means improving a contracting workflow, supporting a strategic transaction, or addressing a specific compliance gap.
Agreeing on priorities, responsibilities, and measures of progress can help keep the work connected to business objectives. It also gives teams a fuller way to evaluate the contribution of flexible counsel.
As technology changes how legal work gets done, legal departments have an opportunity to reconsider how they organize and access expertise. Flexible talent can be part of that approach, providing additional capacity while bringing experienced judgment closer to the decisions that need it.
Learn more about Priori’s Talent Marketplace.
Odini Gogo and Anjali Sareen practice through Priori’s Talent Marketplace and serve on Priori’s Marketplace Advisory Board.
