16 April 2024
How to make a business case to increase your resources
Most in-house legal teams struggle to manage growing responsibilities with limited staff. The ongoing challenge of handling heavy workloads can be exacerbated by sudden changes, like a team member resigning, a large project, or extended leave.
These changes can negatively impact your people’s morale and engagement.
Interim lawyers can join a team at short notice to overcome these challenges. However, GCs often find it challenging to obtain these necessary resources.
Here are some tips to secure secondees to help with your workload.
1. Analyse workload and resource gaps
Assess your legal team’s workload, including current and planned work, projects and other demands. Identify areas where a lack of resources will hamper your ability to achieve your goals and increase the likelihood of commercial, legal or regulatory risks.
2. Assess the alternatives
Offer realistic assessments of the alternatives to engaging an interim lawyer, such as:
- reducing or stopping existing/planned work
- delaying or cancelling projects or other significant initiatives
- identifying potential commercial, legal or compliance impacts
- incurring expenses to outsource more work to law firms
3. Prepare a strong business case
Clearly articulate the benefits of using an interim lawyer, such as filling gaps, providing necessary support to other departments, addressing a skills shortage and reducing external legal expenses.
Use real-life examples and any available data to strengthen your argument.
Demonstrate how adding a secondee lawyer aligns with the organisation’s strategic goals and objectives. Articulate the cost and tangible benefits involved in a concise business case.
Here’s a handy template to help you make a strong business case.
