| How to Find a Freelance Lawyer The process of finding the right freelance lawyer is no different from finding the right carpenter to build a backyard deck or IT professional to oversee your officeâs computer network: the best place to start is with personal recommendations. Since outsourcing legal work to freelance lawyers has become more common over the past few years, itâs likely that a colleague can recommend someone. If the referral avenue leads to a dead end, you have a number of options. You may find ads in your local or state bar newsletter, or on its website, from freelance lawyers, or may post an ad there. And, because most freelance lawyers (like most lawyers in more traditional practice areas) have websites, searching the web should be fruitful. Many freelance lawyers work as independent solos; some work through a growing number of freelance lawyer networks. Freelance lawyer networks offer the convenience of allowing you to review multiple lawyer biographies on one website. Freelance lawyer networks generally confirm registration and disciplinary status before accepting a freelance lawyer as a network member; some have other requirements as well (such as a minimum number of years in practice). Some freelance networks charge the hiring firm for facilitating the placement (i.e., on top of the fee for the freelance lawyerâs services); others are free for hiring firms to use and charge their freelance lawyer members for the marketing and administrative services they provide. Tips for Working with Freelance Lawyers As with any other type of business relationship, itâs wise to have a written contract with your freelance lawyer. You may enter into a broad agreement designed to set the ground rules for work on an unlimited number of current and future matters, or one that applies only to a single matter. If you enter into a broad agreement, make sure that you specify the scope of each particular project in writing at the projectâs outset. If youâre working with a freelance lawyer who is billing on an hourly basis, you may want to receive regular progress reports (for example, you may ask that the freelance lawyer discuss the projectâs status with you at the 10-hour mark). You can also cap the time allotted to the project. Although such an approach will make the freelance lawyerâs total fees more predictable, the project may not be completed within the allotted time. To ameliorate this risk, you may wish to negotiate a flat fee for the entire project. A freelance lawyer who concentrates on legal research and writing should have a legal research subscription plan that includes all of the materials that youâd want access to if you were doing the research yourself. Except in extraordinary circumstances or as otherwise agreed in advance, a freelance lawyer shouldnât bill you for the cost of accessing any databases or materials that are relevant to the legal issues involved. Before hiring a freelance lawyer who relies exclusively on one of the growing number of free legal research services, make sure that you understand the serviceâs limitations (for example, free legal research services generally donât include annotated statutes), since those limitations can impact both the quality of the work product and the freelance lawyerâs efficiency. While you certainly can ask a freelance lawyer to perform work at your office, most firms that hire freelance lawyers leverage technologyâfrom e-mail to stand-alone file sharing tools to practice management platformsâto enable the freelance lawyers to work remotely. Finally, most malpractice policies automatically cover freelance lawyers for the work they do on the insured firm's behalf. While a freelance lawyer you work with may carry his or her own malpractice policy, if the freelance lawyer qualifies as an insured under your policy, the insured v. insured exclusion contained in most malpractice policies will bar you from seeking indemnity or contribution from the freelance lawyer. The freelance lawyerâs policy serves more to protect the freelance lawyer in case of an excess judgment not covered by your policy, or if you donât carry your own malpractice coverage. Ethics Issues in the Outsourcing Relationship The defining characteristic of the relationship between a hiring firm and a freelance attorney is the hiring firm's continued responsibility for rendering competent legal services to the client. Thus, the hiring firm must ensure that it delegates work to freelance lawyers who are competent to perform the work and oversee the performance of the work adequately and appropriately. As with an attorney employed by your firm, the degree of supervision required depends on the freelance lawyer's skills and experience. If you prefer not to maintain supervisory responsibility, you may want to consider a referral or co-counsel relationship instead of an outsourcing relationship. Another question is whether you must disclose, and obtain client consent to, hiring a freelance lawyer to work on a clientâs case. Comment [6] to ABA Model Rule 1.1 (Competence) instructs that a hiring attorney should ordinarily obtain the clientâs informed consent before hiring a freelance lawyer. Many state and local bar associations have issued ethics opinions requiring disclosure under some circumstances, and others mandate disclosure under all circumstances. Thus, the safest route (particularly if you practice in a state that hasnât yet issued a governing ethics opinion) is to disclose, and obtain the clientâs consent to, your use of a freelance lawyer. If you'll be billing an experienced freelance lawyerâs services to your client at a rate lower than your own, this process can actually be an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to achieving the best possible result for the client at the lowest cost. As mentioned above, all ethics opinions but one that have addressed the issue agree that a lawyer may make a profit on work performed by a freelance lawyer. Note that, to comply with ethics requirements, you must bill the freelance lawyer's services as a fee (i.e., in the same manner as you would bill for your own time), rather than as a disbursement (i.e., in the section of the bill detailing expenses incurred for such items as court reporters). As long as payment of the freelance lawyerâs fee isnât contingent on the outcome of the litigation, youâre not required to disclose how much youâre paying the freelance lawyer; in other words, you donât have to reveal the amount of your profit. This position makes sense: after all, if an associate (i.e. your employee) were working on a clientâs matter, you wouldnât be obliged to reveal the associateâs salary to your client. Freelance lawyers are bound by the same ethics rules that govern all lawyers, including the duty of confidentiality. Nevertheless, including a provision in your agreement with the freelance lawyer that explicitly obligates the freelance lawyer to maintain the confidentiality of all client information the freelance lawyer learns during the engagement will give you a contractual remedy in the highly unlikely event of a breach of that ethical duty. Finally, although itâs theoretically possible to work with a freelance lawyer on certain kinds of projects without revealing the partiesâ identities, itâs much more efficient for solos and small firm lawyers to be able to freely share all information when working on an outsourced project than to have to redact documents. Assuming that youâll be sharing all relevant information about each case with the freelance lawyer, you and the freelance lawyer should treat conflicts issues as if the freelance lawyer were an employee of your firm. Conclusion Working with a freelance lawyer allows you to gain many of the financial and work/life balance benefits of adding an associate to your practice, without the overhead and administrative burdens of bringing on an employee. If you follow the tips in this chapter, the relationship among you, your clients and a freelance lawyer can be a win-win situation for all involved. 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 [email protected]. | 