Originally published on Legal Dive in January 2023.

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The cybersecurity ratings platform SecurityScorecard has seen the demand for its work on commercial contracts rise at the end of each quarter and the end of each year, the company says.

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Additionally, the company’s strong financial growth, fueled by expansion into new markets, has increased the contracting workload for its small in-house legal team, said Owen Denby, SecurityScorecard’s general counsel.

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As a result, Denby told Legal Dive, the company has turned to Lawtrades to find attorneys who can step in and provide contracting assistance during those busy periods. Lawtrades is an on-demand legal talent platform for in-house law departments.

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Denby said he has been very pleased with the results to date, including the speed with which SecurityScorecard can identify experienced lawyers via Lawtrades who are available to effectively work with the company’s internal legal team.

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“It takes a lot of pressure off of us to be able to find talent quickly, onboard them quickly and really just let them run,” Denby said.

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Talent pool

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The caliber of attorneys who use the Lawtrades platform to find flexible gigs supporting in-house legal departments has also been impressive, Denby said.

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His company has used lawyers who previously served as general counsel of earlier-stage tech companies, for example.

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“We have confidence that they can step in and be true business partners, which makes all the difference in terms of how we meet our business demands and serve our customers,” Denby said.

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Global resource

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As SecurityScorecard has expanded into Europe, the company has appreciated that it can find attorneys via Lawtrades who are knowledgeable about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation known as GDPR.

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Denby said his in-house team, which has five members including himself, may decide to use a Lawtrades professional based in Europe, the Middle East or Africa who can increase coverage for the company’s international sales team.

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In its 2022 year-end roundup, Lawtrades highlighted that its global reach includes professionals working in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, South Korea and Brazil.

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Use cases beyond startups

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Lawtrades’ year-end report said the bulk of “the engagements and work performed on the platform is in the commercial contracts realm (nearly 44%).”

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However, it highlighted that in-house legal teams are also using the talent provider to fill roles requiring expertise in commercial compliance, corporate and securities work, workflow management and privacy, among other areas.

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Along those lines, Denby said SecurityScorecard has used Lawtrades personnel for assistance with compliance projects, such as rolling out the company’s anti-corruption and anti-fraud policies.

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Professionals from Lawtrades have also previously helped the cybersecurity company with employee benefits and other employment-related work, as well as data privacy initiatives.

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“We’ve been able to fill in a lot of gaps and staff a lot of different areas just given the flexible talent pool and the ability to get people up to speed really quickly,” Denby said.

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Additionally, he said he often recommends Lawtrades to other GCs at growing companies who start facing an expanding array of legal needs without the internal headcount to quickly tackle them all.