Game changing is how an innovative firm has been described
Bringing lawyers onboard is expensive, time-consuming and an inefficient process. Well, that’s how it used to be at least - as Kiwi firm Insource is gaining serious traction with its digital disruption.
It was honoured as one of NZ Lawyer’s/Australasian Lawyer’s Service Providers 2025 for how it has compressed the recruitment process and delivered savings of at least $25,000 per hire on average.
It’s all the brainchild of founder and managing director Jenn Little, previously a law head-hunter. She became cognisant of a disconnect between recruiters and lawyers, so in 2021 launched the platform.
“Over the past four years, we’ve navigated building a tech start-up across two countries during a pandemic, bootstrapped growth through one of New Zealand’s deepest recessions since the early 1990s and made critical decisions under pressure,” explains Little. “These challenges demanded resilience, creativity, and trust, qualities that now underpin our culture.”
The issue is well documented with Actionstep’s 2025 Australian Midsize Law Firm Priorities Report outlining that 45% of firms say talent recruitment and retention is a core strategic challenge, and it is recognised as the most common strategic challenge among midsize firms.
Clients gain direct access to a comprehensive, AI-assisted database of a legal talent pool across Australia and New Zealand, featuring over 101,000 profiles.
From there, the firm’s tech and sophisticated process kicks in.
Showcasing how effective the platform is, for live vacancies clients can generate a longlist in just five minutes and in the same timeframe reduce that to a targeted shortlist.
From there, a hiring partner consults before clients can approach candidates directly with Insource scripts and move the interested ones into the firms standard hiring process.
The total time invested is only half an hour and eliminates job ads or outsourcing.
This is in the context of the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association’s (ALPMA) HR Issues & Salary Report 2025 stating that, “Talent acquisition also remains a priority, especially for large firms, where every respondent (100%) rated it as critical—an increase from 90% in 2024”. And the report further highlighted the size of the task, “law firms anticipate spending the majority of their HR time on recruitment”.
The situation is similar in New Zealand where 38% of firms reported that the recruitment process in 2024 was more challenging than in the previous year.
In the current climate, trimming costs when possible, makes sense. Insource’s monthly subscription rates are $500–$3,000, which they feel compares well to traditional recruiter fees of $30,000–$65,000 per hire.
The reality is that one hire per year recovers the entire subscription cost.
“We made two placements using Insource, which we did within two weeks and at a cost saving of $50,000,” says Caitlin White, people & culture advisor at Carter Newell.
For those firms still pursuing legacy recruitment, there’s a need to engage agencies and then wait for CVs to arrive.
Many also conduct time-consuming manual research across LinkedIn, websites, and networks but Insource believe this is operating with limited visibility of the broader talent market and making strategic decisions in the dark.
Caralee Fontenele, director of Scalable Law, comments, “Traditional recruitment is broken. What works now is building relationships early and using tech to create a pipeline of quality candidates.”
This efficiency is what has enabled Insource to build a profile, as it provides instant visibility of the entire legal talent pool and leverages AI to create shortlists.
In addition, it has built‑in ATS (applicant tracker system), streamlined candidate management plus Outlook and Google Calendar integration. While its automated data updates require minimal administrative effort.
“Since adopting Insource, we have successfully hired two outstanding candidates who we likely would not have reached through traditional recruitment methods,” adds Femke van der Hoeven, operations manager at Collective Family Law. “This approach has saved us significant time and substantially reduced recruitment costs.”
The potential of Insource is yet to be reached as the team take feedback onboard and combine this with evolving client needs; this keeps the platform highly innovative and agile.
A number of enhancements are a direct byproduct of client consultation.
Little says, “Insource is being built by law firms for law firms.”
