Small firms and solo practitioners outsource work to freelance lawyers for a variety of reasons. One primary reason is time: unfortunately, lawyers arenât always in control of their own schedules. Deadlinesâwhether set by statute, court rule or judicial fiatâare ever-present. Frequently, it seems that everything must be done at once.
While a large firm might simply pull an associate from one matter to work on another, more pressing, case, small firms and solo practitioners usually donât have that luxury. This makes small firms and solos particularly vulnerable to periodic âworkload overload.â Outsourcing enables you to weather particularly busy periods without having to hire an employee or face time pressures that lead to stress and burnout.
Another benefit of outsourcing work to freelance lawyers on an as-needed basis is cost. Hiring an associate requires a significant investment in both time and money. When you work with a freelance lawyer, you pay only for the time it takes to complete the project, but when you hire an employee, you immediately add to your fixed expenses. Searching for and training a new associate (particularly a junior-level associate) is time-consuming. Your practice may be busy enough to benefit from project-based outsourcing, but not busy enough to not support another employee. Outsourcing is a wise use of your firmâs resources that can increase profitability.
Hiring an associate has other downsides that can be avoided by working with a freelance lawyer. An employee adds to your administrative burdens, especially if youâre a sole practitioner. Your malpractice rates will rise, and youâll be subject to all the financial and legal responsibilities that accompany employer status. Working with an independent contractor is much less complicated, both initially and on an ongoing basis.
In fact, working with a freelance lawyer can help your firm's bottom line. With one exception, all of the bar associations that have addressed the issue (including, most notably, the ABA) have determined that a lawyer may add a surcharge to a freelance lawyerâs feesâin other words, make a profit on work performed by a freelance lawyerâas long as the total charges to the client are reasonable.
Even if youâre handling a case on a contingency basis and will be absorbing the freelance lawyerâs fees yourself, it may still make sense to work with a freelance lawyer. Hiring a freelance lawyer to work on a low-value case frees you up to devote more time to higher-value cases; conversely, an experienced freelance lawyer can offer critical assistance in a high-value case. A freelance lawyer can even help you decide whether or not to accept a contingency case by examining issues youâve identified at the outset (such as whether a statute of limitations was tolled based on the facts of the case) or by performing a jury verdict search.
Moreover, many freelance lawyers focus on a particular aspect of practice, most commonly legal research and writing. A freelance lawyer who concentrates in legal research and writing can often complete those tasks in less time than a busy practitioner who may not be as familiar with the available resources or as experienced in searching large databases for sometimes elusive answers. You may already outsource other tasks to independent professionals (such as private investigators) in order to benefit from their expertise. Working with a freelance lawyer enables you to use your valuable time in a way thatâs most efficient for you and your clients.
Finally, working with freelance lawyers can boost your professional satisfaction. You may enjoy trying cases and taking and defending depositions, but dislike brief-writing. Or you might prefer client counseling and negotiating settlements to drafting discovery demands. Outsourcing can free you to focus on those tasks that you find most personally and professionally rewarding.
What Types of Tasks Can Freelance Lawyers Perform?
A freelance lawyer can do anything that a lawyer employed by a firm can do. This includes, for example, legal research and writing (including drafting pleadings, motions, jury instructions, appeals and discovery requests); document review; taking and defending depositions; making court appearances; assisting with trial preparation; and drafting all kinds of transactional documents. A freelance lawyer can also help with your marketing efforts by drafting or editing articles, books and CLE materials.
Legal research and writing projects are particularly amenable to outsourcing to a freelance lawyer, for two reasons. First, you can outsource as much (or as little) of a project as you want. You may have already researched the issues and drafted a brief, but need someone to edit your work. Or you may need help with research, but want to write a brief or opinion letter yourself. Or you may prefer to delegate primary responsibility for an entire large projectâincluding the preparation of a record on appeal, legal research and brief writingâto a freelance lawyer (working under your ultimate supervision, of course). Look for a freelance lawyer who will accommodate your preferred work style.
Second, small firms and sole practitioners in particular can benefit from the fresh perspective and critical eye that a freelance lawyer can bring to a case. For example, sometimes itâs difficult to dispassionately evaluate legal issues in a case to which youâve already committed significant resources. Although chatting informally with a colleague about your case may help point you in the right direction, a freelance lawyer whoâs familiar with all of the relevant facts and has read the applicable cases and statutes will be able to analyze the issues more closely.
Next month, we'll talk about how to find and work with freelance lawyers.
Lisa Solomon is a freelance attorney who assists solos and small firms with all their legal research and writing needs. Lisa is also a nationally-known author and speaker about persuasive legal writing and contract (a/k/a freelance) lawyering. Her innovative law practice has been featured in such periodicals as the National Law Journal and the ABA Journal, and in a number of books about legal careers. You can find out more about Lisaâs practice at www.QuestionOfLaw.net,and you can reach her directly at 914-595-6575 or Lisa@QuestionOfLaw.net.
