“I was an army of one” — a legal department of one.

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That’s how Chris Lalan, Chief Legal Officer at Fintech startup 1Money, described his starting point. No backup. No time. And a legal workload that didn’t slow down just because resources were thin. The expectations were high, and the tools he had weren't enough. Traditional legal staffing models didn’t align with a high-growth startup's speed or budget constraints. Something had to change.

“I had to be nimble in terms of performing high-impact legal work in the most cost-efficient manner,” Lalan shared. That search led him to explore a less familiar terrain: an Alternative Legal Service Provider (ALSP).

He turned to Lawtrades, hoping to lighten the load. What he found was deeper than support; it was a way to extend his legal capacity without sacrificing quality.

“I’ve been so, so pleasantly surprised with the caliber of talent on the platform,” Lalan said. “These are general counsels with significant experience—substantively and technically—that have wowed me.”

His experience is increasingly relevant to legal departments facing similar pressure. As in-house teams take on more with fewer resources, ALSPs are becoming an operational advantage. For Lalan, what began as an experiment quickly became a strategic asset.

That same session featured Shezi Sardar, a Lawtrades attorney who has supported companies like Sony Interactive and DoorDash. From his side of the table, he’s seen how ALSPs can step in with speed, precision, and deep expertise, providing legal teams with the breathing room to focus on what matters most.

“We can be agile,” Sardar explained. “We’re not a large law firm. I can somewhat surgically work through a deal flow to ensure results.”

Their stories reflect two sides of a shift already underway. And if you're rethinking how your legal team scales, what they learned might change how you move forward. They shared these insights during a live In-House Connect webinar. If you'd like to hear the full conversation, you can watch the session [here]

A Turning Point for Legal Resourcing

Lalan’s story didn’t begin with a plan; it started with pressure.

1Money was growing fast. Too fast for the kind of legal support he had on hand. There was no team to lean on. No cushion for trial and error. As the company grew, so did the complexity and the legal tasks that demanded attention.

Hiring full-time wasn’t an option, and traditional firms would be far beyond budget. But the contracts kept coming, the product kept evolving, and the compliance issues kept stacking up.

Something had to give.

“I had a massive, massive spike in contract volume. There was no way I was going to get through it without help.”

“At that point, it was less about, ‘Hey, this is a cool idea,’ and more about survival. I needed to triage the work.”

Pressed for time, Lalan turned to Lawtrades. He wasn’t expecting a breakthrough. He was just looking for help.

However, what he found were lawyers who had seen the inside of companies like his, people who didn’t need training wheels, people who could move.

“They were former GCs from some of the top five financial institutions on the planet. And you know folks from that have had experience in the digital asset space and very complex regulatory areas,” Lalan recalled. “They didn’t need ramp-up time. They got to work.”

Here are some principles you can also adopt to take immediate action:

• Identify your volume inflection points; what work is scaling faster than your team?
  
• Don’t wait for the perfect structure. Start with immediate relief and adjust from there.
  
• When volume surges, focus on triage first: what can move now and be reassigned quickly?
• Choose partners who understand your space and can move without hand-holding.

Building a System That Could Flex

What started as a one-time solution became a new system. Lalan didn’t stop at outsourcing contracts; he redesigned his entire approach to legal operations.

“It wasn’t just, ‘I need help.’ It was, ‘How do I use the right resources for the right tasks?”

Instead of seeing ALSPs as outside help, he pulled them into the business's rhythm. He assigned work not by title or tradition but by fit. Routine contracts, internal policies, and overflow projects all went to Lawtrades attorneys who could handle them with speed and precision.

“I shifted my mindset to thinking about Lawtrades not as an external vendor, but as a part of my legal team.”

To replicate that kind of flexibility:

• Map out your legal workstreams. Assign repeatable, high-volume work to flexible external support.
• Evaluate partners on experience and integration speed, not just credentials.
• Treat external support as part of your system. Integrate them into your workflows, tools, and team structure.

The scramble gave way to a system that could keep pace with the company. Decisions came faster, work moved cleaner, and the core priorities stayed in focus.

“Once I embraced that model, the output started to speak for itself.”

The Misconceptions That Fade Fast

Before his first hire, Lalan had questions.

Could he trust an external attorney to lead negotiations? Would they understand 1Money’s business model? How quickly could someone ramp up in such a complex regulatory environment?

He was candid about those early doubts. 

“I definitely had some reservations,” Lalan said. “Would I entrust an alternative legal service provider to lead negotiations, to handle high volumes of revenue-generating contracts? How would I upskill someone to the very nature of our business?”

But the results spoke for themselves.

“I was very pleasantly surprised with how quickly and easily it was to resolve all those concerns,” he shared. “At least in terms of the folks I’ve been engaging with through the platform.”

If you’re battling similar doubts, consider this approach:

• Set clear expectations early, but be open to being proven wrong.
• Evaluate on delivery, not assumptions. Let performance shape your perception.
• Start small, measure quickly, and scale what works.

The attorneys stepped in, adapted quickly, and performed like insiders. The doubts faded. What remained was a new level of trust and a broader view of what modern legal support could be.

Inside the Talent Mindset: Shezi Sardar’s Perspective

On the other side of the table sat Shezi Sardar, a seasoned attorney on the Lawtrades platform. His background included time at Sony Interactive, DoorDash, and AccuWeather. But what stood out most wasn’t his resume. It was how he approached his work.

Sardar understood what legal teams were up against. He had stepped in when priorities shifted without warning and seen bandwidth disappear overnight.

And that’s where he thrived.

“We’re built to adapt,” he said. “The needs are urgent. The bandwidth is thin. You have to integrate fast, get context fast, and deliver results fast.”

He approached each engagement with the mindset of a partner, not just to complete a task but to help a team move forward.

“The goal is to really integrate quickly and get in lockstep with the client. That’s how you build trust.”

He looked for ways to plug into the workflow without slowing things down:

• Join key Slack channels and team standups to stay synced on shifting priorities.
• Mirror the internal team’s communication cadence and tools.
• Stay proactive; understand what’s coming next and preempt legal needs where possible.

Sardar didn’t wait to be managed. He found the gap, stepped in, and delivered. The impact wasn’t measured only by closed contracts but by how much stronger the legal function became afterward.

“Every time I’ve had the opportunity to step in, I’ve treated it like I was already part of the team.”

Knowing What to Send Where

Sardar had seen enough to know that not every task belongs in the same bucket. Some projects demand traditional outside counsel, but others, especially the ones that stretch teams thin, can be handled differently.

“When it comes to fast-moving deals, when it comes to revenue-generating agreements—the bread and butter, redlining, negotiating—someone like me can be an asset,” he explained. “Again, nimble, agile, focused. Maybe it's a new product, maybe it's a new piece of technology… I may just have that area of expertise in my wheelhouse.”

He also understood when it made sense to escalate.

“They tend to be a bit more beneficial for larger M&A-type deals, specialized regulatory issues… certain contracts that have more sensitive regulatory matters that really should have a second set of eyes.”

To optimize your legal workflow:

• Move routine commercial work like MSAs, SOWs, and compliance reviews to ALSP attorneys specializing in those areas.
• Reserve law firm budgets for highly strategic, sensitive matters requiring extra scrutiny.

This kind of allocation creates breathing room. It trims unnecessary spending and helps legal teams stay focused on what moves the business forward.

The Truth About ALSP Expertise

Sardar had worked in both worlds: big law and in-house. He knew how to negotiate deals, manage volume, and step into complex operations without slowing things down.

Still, he understood the reservations some clients might have.

“One misconception I've seen is that we may not have the expertise or training, that we may not be as seasoned,” he explained during the session. “But many of us are. We have been valid and fully practicing lawyers for years. Some from large law with significant in-house experience… We've led deals, built systems, and handled real pressure.”

For Sardar, these weren’t theoretical challenges. They were the kind of situations he had encountered repeatedly: urgent priorities, shifting expectations, and legal teams that needed someone who could move with them.

Making ALSPs Work for You

Lalan and Sardar offered practical insight for legal leaders who want to make ALSPs part of their operating model:

Start with a clear purpose.
Lalan emphasized knowing why you want to engage an ALSP before starting. “If you are interested in using an ALSP, learn… continue to educate yourself more about it and really know why you would be wanting to use [one] and how you're going to use them.”

Have a plan for onboarding and integration.
“Go in prepared,” Lalan advised. “Know exactly how you're going to onboard them, how you're going to manage expectations, manage performance, [and] provide real-time feedback.”

Look for partners, not placeholders.
Sardar encouraged teams to treat ALSP attorneys as extensions of the in-house team. “We are agile. We can integrate into a company’s systems, their culture, their mission, and really be an asset.”

Trust the talent.
“Many of us are valid and fully practicing lawyers,” Sardar said. “We’ve led deals, built systems, and handled real pressure.”

Their message was consistent: ALSPs work best when embedded into the workflow and are not treated as outside vendors. The more aligned the team, the more significant the impact.

These insights reflect lessons shaped by real legal work—projects delivered, risks managed, operations improved—not abstract theory. With Lawtrades, that level of alignment is within reach. The platform connects legal departments with experienced attorneys who can embed quickly, operate independently, and support high-impact work from day one.

As Lalan shared, “A quick win, if you can align yourself with the right partner, is utilizing alternative legal services providers and knowing… when to use them, as opposed to your standing panel of large law firms.” He encouraged other legal leaders to take the leap, even if unsure: “Don't be afraid to try. If you're a GC, if you're a CLO, if you're a small legal department… it's quite obvious that the role of in-house counsel is changing.”

And for teams already stretched, the opportunity is clear: “We're asked to do more with less,” Lalan said. “This is one way to actually make that work.”