Lower Overhead ~ Lower Rates
- Traditional firms: Expensive downtown offices, high staff overhead, big infrastructure costs ~ passed on to clients.
- Non-traditional firms: Virtual, hybrid or remote, ALSPs (Alternative Legal Service Providers): No luxury office space, often cloud- based.
- Benefit: Hourly rates or flat fees are significantly lower.
Technology ~ Driven Efficiency
- Traditional firms: Manual workflows, paper-heavy processes, billable hour model.
- Non-traditional firms: Use Automation, Al, and outsourcing for repetitive tasks, filing affidavit electronically or Remote Online Notarization(RON), On Demand Platforms (integrated software)
- Benefit: Faster turnaround + fewer billed hours .
Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs)
- Traditional firms: Billable hours dominate.
- Non-traditional firms: Flat rates/fees, subscription pricing, or success-based fees.
- Benefit: Transparent and predictable, budget-friendly fees for start-up law firms.
Specialized Talent On Demand
- Traditional firms: Regular broad services, general staff with associates in training.
- Non-traditional firms: Built upon a platform of skilled professionals in a particular field of practice, available on demand
- Benefit: You don’t pay for full-time stafffing-you only pay for the service required.
Outsourcing Administrative/Support
- Traditional firms: Use associates and paralegals for routine work-billed at high rates.
- Non-traditional firms: Outsource routine work (administrative legal messengers/court reporting/filing with clerk of courts, process service) to ALSPs (Alternative Legal Service Providers) or AI technology.
Flexible Staffing Models
- Traditional firms: Salaried lawyers, associates in training, legal assistants + rigidly staffing
- Non-traditional firms: Contract-based skilled technicians in their field of practice, hired only when client demand rises.
Client-Centric
- Traditional firms: limited transparency; you wait for updates.
- Non-traditional firms: Client dashboards, realtime updates, flat-fee billing platforms.
- Benefit: More clarity, no surprise bills, integration made simple.
