As the businesses continue adapting to an uncertain economy, alternative legal service providers may already be emerging as a less costly and more flexible option than law firms or other traditional legal services. However, as Alternative Legal Service Providers begin to embrace more complex legal work and expand their ranks to include the types experienced attorneys who were once the exclusive domain of firms, can they continue to maintain the same cost advantages?

Camden Hillas, associate general counsel at Nintex, said via email that in her experience, the value of ALSPs revolves around specific, niche tasks that can be done with a single set of concrete directions from a client for a lower price than a law firm. However, throwing more complex tasks into the mix requires more client oversight and diminishes any savings accrued.

"It is in those cases where a law firm, specifically one with an ongoing relationship with a corporation and awareness of risk tolerance and operating principles, can provide more value and can operate more autonomously than many ALSPs," Hillas said.