A few years ago, legal operations leader Mike Russell was working at Ingersoll Rand Inc., when the global manufacturing company faced the challenge of trying to coordinate and oversee about 30 law firms scattered across multiple states. 

The company could have gone the traditional route and hired national coordinating and discovery counsel. Instead, the legal department turned to an alternative legal services provider to handle the job. The ALSP brought boots on the ground to visit the company’s warehouses, and sort through paper files as part of the discovery process.