When companies make the move
The trigger is usually a change. An in-house lawyer leaves and the role is not being refilled, a founder who was handling contracts no longer has the hours, a parent company reorganizes, or the volume of work grows past what an office manager can reasonably carry. Some companies choose this arrangement permanently, because their legal work is steady without ever being large. Others use it as a bridge while they decide whether to hire. In either case the question is not only who does the work, but how the work reaches them.
Making the handoff clean
A transition goes better with an inventory: active matters and their deadlines, agreements currently in negotiation, the templates in use, corporate records and where they live, filings and renewals with their dates, and any outside firms already engaged on specific matters. Access to the contract files and to the signature process matters as much as the documents themselves. If a lawyer is leaving, a short overlap for questions is worth arranging before the last day. Renewal and filing dates are the item most often lost in a handoff, so they deserve a list of their own.
Running it afterward
Once the function sits outside, the arrangement runs better with a defined route in: one point of contact inside the company, an agreed way to submit requests, and a shared understanding of what gets turned around quickly and what gets scheduled. Decide in advance which matters go to firms that handle a particular area regularly, and who authorizes that. We also suggest a periodic look back at what the work actually consisted of, since that is the information you will want if you later decide to hire internally. Bring your contracts, records, and open items to the first conversation.
