Accurately measuring the growth of alternative legal service providers (ALSP) in the legal market is no easy feat. While surveys conducted from self-reporting vendors might paint a picture of underuse, interviews with industry consultants may provide a conflicting, rosier outlook for the sector. Instead, ALSP executives and observers said ongoing personnel, business and services growth offer clearer indications of the sector’s trajectory.

While opinions may vary on how to best gauge the ALSP market’s success, most agree you can’t compare the corporate spending paid to outside counsel to ALSPs.