Startup companies often avoid hiring in-house lawyers in their early years, but the advantages of hiring a third- to fifth-year law firm associate when a company has just a few dozen employees can outweigh any costs, says Drew Morris.

Morris spent five years as an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati before becoming general counsel in July 2020 of WorkJam, a software company that enables employers to communicate with their “non-desk” workforce. He said he wanted a new challenge and found his law firm experience was helpful to the startup world.