Could it be beneficial to work with lawyers independent of the Effective Altruism movement, if this would give them more objectivity and independence from conflicts of interest / valuation of particular ideas?
Yes, although objectivity and independence trades off against other things EA orgs might value in a lawyer. I think of the ‘EA lawyer’ idea similarly to the idea of an in-house lawyer—and in my previous practice as an in-house lawyer sometimes we would go to external lawyers for objectivity/professional distance (and not just for, say, specialist expertise).
Could it be beneficial to work with lawyers independent of the Effective Altruism movement, if this would give them more objectivity and independence from conflicts of interest / valuation of particular ideas?
Yes, although objectivity and independence trades off against other things EA orgs might value in a lawyer. I think of the ‘EA lawyer’ idea similarly to the idea of an in-house lawyer—and in my previous practice as an in-house lawyer sometimes we would go to external lawyers for objectivity/professional distance (and not just for, say, specialist expertise).
Apologies for the delayed response.