- Your chief compliance officer abruptly leaves the company with a stack of issues pending review, and the list is growing longer each day.
- One of your in-house lawyers has announced she will be going on maternity leave in a few months, and you are not sure how everything will get done without her.
- Your company just closed a deal that nearly doubles the size of your physician staff and the number of physician contracting requests flowing through your legal department.
These are just a few of the staffing scenarios that can keep a company’s executives up at night because, if not promptly and properly addressed, they can create risk, increase costs and inefficiencies, and cause operational headaches for the foreseeable future. GCWest attorneys have addressed the issues described above, among many others, in an efficient and cost-effective way by serving their clients on a secondment basis.
WHAT IS A SECONDMENT?
A secondment is a period of time where a GCWest attorney dedicates a fixed amount of time to a client to increase the number of workers, replace departed workers, or to offer particular expertise on more than a project basis. Given the experience of our attorneys, GCW has the ability to step seamlessly into an in-house role to best suit our clients’ needs.
A SECONDMENT MIGHT BE RIGHT FOR YOU IF….
You need additional staffing resources to address unexpected departures.
Legal departments across the country are experiencing unprecedented turnover. A recent Wolters Kluwer survey shows 70% of corporate lawyers are inclined to leave their position in the coming year. Finding the right permanent, internal resource with the requisite qualifications and experience takes a substantial amount of time and effort. GCWest can step in to fill gaps during the recruiting process by keeping the day-to-day wheels turning, working on backlog projects, and developing processes and templates to create a better environment in which a new hire can thrive. This allows the client to take the time necessary to find the person who will be the right long-term fit rather than feeling pressure to fill the seat as quickly as possible.
You need additional resources to address quick company growth.
In periods of rapid growth, it can be difficult to know what types and levels of permanent staffing will be needed. Companies on a fast-growth trajectory may need substantial resources to prepare operational templates and policies, but those needs may decrease over time. A company that is in a heavy acquisition phase may need significant resources to address integration, employment, and other operational issues. After integration, these legal operations needs may change or diminish. GCWest can step in to fill immediate legal needs created by rapid growth and also help our clients understand what permanent resources may be needed after the dust settles.
You need particular subject-matter expertise on a frequent and regular, but less than full-time, basis.
GCWest has a wealth of experience in several specialized areas, including payor contracting, healthcare compliance, and physician and hospital contracting. Your organization may have a regular need for services in one of these areas, but perhaps not on a full-time basis. A secondment can get you the “unicorn” attorney you need for the time you need him or her, without an expensive, time- consuming hiring and training process.
GCWest attorneys pride themselves on thinking like inside resources and being strategic and proactive. These commitments set GCWest apart from other firms and, along with our experience in secondment and in-house roles, make GCWest uniquely situated to offer secondment services. If you are interested in exploring whether a secondment arrangement might be the right solution for you, please contact Carrie Fogliani or Joe Schohl.