Managing Parental Leaves on Your In-House Legal Team

Parental leaves are a time for celebration for your valued team members. They can, however, pose challenges for in-house legal teams that rely on the consistent expertise and responsiveness of the full team. Without careful planning, the absence of a key legal professional can create operational gaps and increase stress for your team, including the team member on leave.

The Challenges of Covering Parental Leaves for In-House Legal Teams

• Need for Familiarity with Common Systems and Tools

  Your in-house legal team members likely rely on multiple tools, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools, HR/payroll systems, and more, to manage their work efficiently. Training temporary attorneys on such tools, or attempting to onboard traditional law firms, can take valuable time, delaying their ability to make meaningful contributions during a short-term leave.

  
  

• Limited Ramp-Up Time

  In-house legal professionals develop deep knowledge about your company’s operations, products, and partners. Traditional law firms often lack this type of institutional knowledge, making it difficult for them to provide proactive legal counsel and strategic advice. Likewise, temporary attorneys often face a steep learning curve: by the time they have familiarized themselves with your organization, your full-time employee may be preparing to return from leave.

  
  

• Budget Constraints

  While leaders sometimes have insight into upcoming parental leaves before the budgeting cycle, such leaves can often be unbudgeted. Even if they are budgeted, it is often prohibitively expensive to use traditional law firms to perform day-to-day in-house tasks. Similarly, hiring a temporary attorney through a ‘broker’ that attempts to match a temporary attorney to the client’s needs can become expensive because such attorneys often work full-time, or near-full-time, for the duration of the parental leave.

  
  

How Right Arrow Legal Can Help

At Right Arrow Legal, we understand the demands of in-house legal teams and the challenges that parental leaves can bring. That’s why we’ve developed a flexible, cost-effective solution for in-house legal teams.

• Our Experienced In-House Attorneys are Familiar with Common Systems and Tools

  Our team is composed of seasoned in-house attorneys with deep experience in the tech industry. We integrate seamlessly into your team, leveraging our familiarity with the tools and systems commonly used by in-house attorneys.

  
  

• We Hit the Ground Running

  We’re not your typical law firm attorneys—we’re in-house experts ready to jump in with minimal ramp-up time. Our expertise in typical in-house practice areas, combined with our decades of experience immersed within in-house legal departments, allows us to get up to speed in days, instead of weeks or months, to add value immediately.

  
  

• We Have a Flexible, Tailored, Retained-Engagement Model

  By choosing Right Arrow Legal, you can save significantly compared to large firms and full-time temporary attorney placements while remaining confident that your team’s work is being handled by an experienced in-house attorney who just ‘gets’ what it’s like to work in-house. Unlike traditional temporary legal placements that often require full-time commitments, we offer a tailored engagement model: You retain one of our team members, part-time (# of hours per week based on your specific needs) to provide top-notch work product directly to your team’s clients throughout your organization.

Testimonials From In-House Leaders

Don’t just take our word for it—visit our testimonials page to hear what other in-house legal leaders have to say about partnering with Right Arrow Legal. And check out our case studies to hear how we’ve helped companies like yours navigate parental leaves with confidence.

Get in Touch Today

Planning for an upcoming parental leave or other gap in legal coverage? Contact Right Arrow Legal to discuss an engagement tailored to your needs.