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Mary Clare Garber is the vice president of Princeton Legal Search Group, an executive search firm with offices in Princeton and New York City. She also serves on the board of Executive Women in New Jersey and is involved in the Association for Corporate Growth.

We asked Mary Clare why companies should hire their own in-house attorneys:

Reduction of costs. As a guideline, if a company is spending $250,000 or more annually on outside legal fees, it is an appropriate time to consider internalizing the legal function. Significant cost savings can be realized.

Creating synergies with the core business and achieving greater efficiency. When an attorney is employed directly by a company, daily ongoing consultative resources are available to all levels of the organization. Real-time legal and business advice is delivered by your own lawyer who, as a key member of your organization, is already intimately familiar with the business and its objectives.

Proactive business solutions. Attorneys who are employed directly by companies understand that management does not want to be told its business objectives cannot be achieved. They understand their role as trusted advisers, and they develop solutions that implement and realize business objectives while minimizing risk to the organization. We have seen attorneys not only become trusted advisers and partners to the business, but proactive participants in the strategic and innovative direction of a company.