How Sweeney Merrigan built a global support team to handle rising caseloads with Deel

Sweeney Merrigan, a personal injury law firm in Boston, has served clients for more than 15 years. As the firm’s caseload rose, attorneys faced mounting pressure to juggle legal work with time-consuming administrative tasks.

To sustain growth, the team needed a smarter way to scale—one that allowed attorneys to stay focused on high-value cases while ensuring medical record coordination and back-office work were managed efficiently.

The firm had experience with local recruitment and freelance platforms like Upwork, but these options couldn’t deliver the stability or long-term collaboration they needed. While these platforms worked for short projects, they lacked the structure and partnership required to build an ongoing, reliable support team.

“We were really looking for independent contractors with more flexible end dates—few of our cases follow a pre-determined timeline.” —Katie Kobold, HR Generalist, Sweeney Merrigan

Sweeney Merrigan needed a global solution—one platform that could simplify hiring, contracting, and onboarding while giving them access to the right talent for every need.

Through Deel Talent, Sweeney Merrigan connected with Ottomate, a recruiting partner in Deel’s global network that specializes in sourcing skilled professionals for administrative and legal operations.

After posting their first role, Ottomate reached out immediately, coming prepared with vetted resumes and market insights to help the firm identify where to find the best talent. Working together, they explored global hiring options—including candidates in the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Indonesia—before aligning on the ideal market.

“I was impressed that Natalie and her team already had resumes ready for me to review during our first call.” —Katie Kobold, HR Generalist, Sweeney Merrigan

Using Deel Talent, the team could manage every step in one place—from reviewing candidates and managing feedback to finalizing contracts and onboarding. Deel’s flexibility gave Sweeney Merrigan the confidence to choose the hiring model that fit best—whether engaging contractors directly or exploring other options like EOR for future expansion.

When an early candidate wasn’t the right fit, Ottomate quickly sourced a replacement, while Deel’s Customer Success team guided the firm through contract management and onboarding to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Within four interviews and under one month, Sweeney Merrigan had hired two Medical Record Coordinators based in the Philippines. The quick turnaround and quality of candidates helped the firm immediately reduce administrative bottlenecks and refocus attorneys’ time on client services and caseload.

“They’ve been in the role for about a month now, and we’re very satisfied with their output and performance.” —Katie Kobold, HR Generalist, Sweeney Merrigan

Encouraged by their success, the firm continues to partner with Ottomate and Deel Talent to support its growing workload—evolving what began as a trial into a long-term, scalable hiring strategy that supports sustainable growth.