The good news is that working as a freelance lawyer is now widely accepted and completely flexible. You have the option of working as a part-time virtual associate for one or more firms, a full-time virtual associate, starting your own freelancing business serving multiple attorneys, or taking on short-term projects. Becoming a freelance attorney is the ideal lifestyle for an increasing number of attorneys because you can control how much you work, who you work for, and how much you get paid.
Everyone, from AmLaw 100 firms to solo practitioners, is looking for talented freelance lawyers. This means that lawyers from every field will have access to an ever-expanding pool of freelance work, which is growing in size and scope each year.
What is the career path of a freelance lawyer?
There isn't just one job route. There are not 10 possible job paths. This is because of the fact that lawyers are starting freelance practices for a variety of reasons, each with their own goals. Some lawyers want to improve their work-life balance by setting a limit on their hours. Some people want to increase their income with project work while they grow their solo practice. A lot of lawyers enjoy writing but do not want to deal with clients or the court, and a freelancing profession enables them to enjoy the intellectual practice of law without the stress of client management. Some have responsibility for children or elderly parents and want to work a few hours on weekends and nights. Some retirees like to work in the winter and golf in the summer. The wisest among us have realised that they can work remotely from a tropical beach.
The advantage of freelancing is that you may do whatever you want in terms of time and payment. Some freelance lawyers prefer to work for a single lawyer or a group of lawyers for a specific number of hours each month. This is a virtual associate model with recurring compensation, but it also requires a regular commitment of a certain amount of hours in a specific area.
Some freelance lawyers want the ultimate flexibility of project-based work. For example, they may be hired to draft a motion for summary judgment, a lease, or a trademark application and be compensated for only that project. These efforts can also be more long-term, such as assisting with an M&A transaction or reviewing e-discovery documents, which could last weeks or months.
The bottom line is that as a freelance lawyer, you may choose how much you want to work and whether you want regular or project-based work.
You may also choose whether to start your own freelancing business, complete with a website and marketing, seek more regular contract work from colleagues and word of mouth, or provide your freelance services through online freelancing platforms such as Legal Recruitment Scotland. You can also mix any of these options.
Find your specialisation and excel as a freelance lawyer
Law is becoming more specialised. Clients no longer interact with a single lawyer for all of their legal needs. They hire a lawyer with experience and training in a specific field. These lawyers, and indeed law firms in turn, recruit freelance lawyers with the specialised knowledge, experience, and training that their clients need. This is why it is so important to determine your expertise.
So, focus on the practice areas and type of work that you are interested in and where you can develop and grow, and your freelance legal career will flourish. Promote these areas. Don't be hesitant to highlight your expertise, knowledge, and skills. As you build a reputation as an expert in a specific field of law or type of job, you will be able to charge more for your time and earn more money.
To avoid damaging your brand, refrain from accepting projects outside of your main field of expertise. Taking on more work than you can handle can lead to poor quality work, lower income, and reputational harm. A jack of all trades is a master of none, as the proverb says.
Even if it is obvious. You will love your self-employed freelance career more if you do something that you enjoy and are skilled at. So, avoid spending time in areas you dislike, lack experience, or have no interest. Whether it's document review or complicated tax work, being yourself and doing what you're good at is essential for landing freelance employment.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring a Freelance Attorney
Freelancers set their own schedules
Perhaps the most significant advantage of a freelance career is the ability to set your own schedule. Many people prioritise spending time with friends and family, running another business, or raising children above working full-time. Others want to go full speed ahead, no matter how long the hours are. The freelancer holds full decision-making authority, which is something attorneys are unlikely to find in an ordinary company.
Freelancers have the flexibility to work from anywhere
Say goodbye to Facetime and the daily commute. If working from home in your pyjamas or your favourite foreign country is the perfect career choice, you've found it. And, since you are already paying rent at the coffee shop, it could as well be your office.
Freelancers must pay close attention to financial aspects
While working for a firm might be inflexible work, it can provide the benefits of a consistent pay cheque, legal research tools, and typically attractive health and retirement plans. As a result, before starting your freelancing work, you must consider whether you can get similar benefits elsewhere, as well as the expenditures. And, just like when you start your own law firm, your income will be irregular at first, so prepare accordingly.
Work only on projects that interest you
One of the greatest benefits of freelancing is the ability to work just on projects that interest you. As an independent lawyer, you are no longer obligated to accept whatever work your firm's partner assigns you or whatever client walks in. Of course, you're bound by an ethical duty of competency, but other than that, you get to choose what you work on.
There is no support staff
Whether you come from a big law firm, a small firm, or anywhere in between, the need for staff and overhead will decrease. Working remotely is the current trend, which may entail having no support personnel and working from home. If your computer skills aren't the best, you can simply enhance them with online classes or YouTube's multitude of free videos. And, with the gig economy in full swing, there is a big pool of freelance paralegals and other legal professionals ready to assist you.
Look for a mentor
Some attorneys are lucky to be the protégé of an experienced, seasoned lawyer, whereas others may not. Those who are just starting out in their careers would benefit from having a mentor. Because freelance work often does not provide easy access to successful fields of advisers, less experienced solicitors starting a freelancing career should make an extra effort to look for a mentor.
Freelancing eliminates office talk
Freelancing requires being self-sufficient, which means embarking on a life-changing adventure. It's just you, the open road, and a nice breeze across your hair. And deadlines. And thrill! However, there is the possibility of loneliness. You will work on amazing, engaging projects and meet fascinating people along the way, especially through platforms like indeed.com. As a freelancer, you will have access to opportunities that you would not have had otherwise. However, there is a lot of lonely lawyering. If you prefer a traditional office atmosphere, or at least remote meetings with multiple people, freelancing may come as a shocker. If you enjoy socialising, be prepared to seek out opportunities for engagement elsewhere.
How do you become a freelance lawyer?
Start by asking yourself if you want to work. Next, how much time do you want to spend working? All lawyers understand that, like anything else in life, you get only out of your freelance profession what you put in. So, take control of your life and legal career, do the right thing, and get started.
Look for Clients
You obviously need clients if you want to survive. Legal practice is difficult enough without the extra strain of finding work. If you want clients, you must go out and find them, which may be easier said than done. Since other attorneys will be your clients, adjust your tactics properly. Online legal freelance networks are a good starting point. Legal Recruitment Scotland offers a consistent supply of project-based work as well as opportunities to become a subscription virtual associate. Either option is an excellent way to get started in your freelance legal business or to boost your income while you expand your clientele.
Marketing Strategy
You still need to inform people about the excellent job you do, even if you work remotely. Although the legal profession continues to evolve, some things may remain constant. Freelancers should still sell themselves in some way.
The key to success is still networking. If no one knows who you are or what you do, your freelancing legal career may be short. Start by identifying your current residence and workplace. Inform your colleagues about your new venture, attend local bar association meetings, and send announcements to your law school peers. Your target audience is attorneys, so focus your efforts there.
If you do not use at least one professional networking site, you are missing out on an excellent opportunity to market yourself and meet potential clients. LinkedIn is the most well-known of these, with 740 million users as of the moment. Other sites, such as Xing, are also worth exploring.
Look for and nurture acceptable referral sources. Talk to other attorneys and get to know them. When you make genuine, meaningful connections with others, they are more inclined to refer you to their colleagues.
Participate in several webinars to have access to the most up-to-date tools and expertise for freelancing legal professionals. In addition, design your own presentation to show other attorneys how your specialised skills and expertise will benefit them and their clients.
Admin Tasks
Your support staff is one of the few things that makes being an attorney easier. If you were not aware of this fact before, you will soon be. Freelancing involves not just freedom, but also increased responsibility. You can now focus on everyday duties that keep your freelance practice running well. Tracking billable time, even on flat fee projects, is now your responsibility, and if you want to be compensated for your work, you must invoice your clients. No one enjoys these minor duties, and online freelance platforms have taken note.
Moral Concerns
The practice of outsourcing legal work to freelance legal experts is not new. However, freelance lawyers, like other practicing attorneys, face complex moral concerns. An excellent place to start is with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Code of Conduct.
The Code of Conduct describes the standards of professionalism that the SRA, and the public expect of individuals (solicitors, registered European lawyers and registered foreign lawyers) authorised to provide legal services.
They apply to conduct and behaviour relating to your practice, and comprise a framework for ethical and competent practice which applies irrespective of your role or the environment or organisation in which you work
If you aren't using a platform like Legal Recruitment Scotland that has handled these moral concerns for independent contractors, you should make sure that the UK's professional conduct laws are followed. These regulations will cover things like:
- Ensure that you are barred in the state where the legal services are being offered, or that you are acting in a paraprofessional manner.
- Creating a clear division of responsibilities with the hiring attorney, including who is liable for the attorney-client relationship and the services delivered to the hiring attorney's client.
- Establish a conflict resolution procedure for each new project you take on.
- Make sure that you have the legal knowledge, competence, thoroughness, and preparation that is reasonably required for the job.
- Set your fee and ensure that you are not illegally fee splitting.
It is also advisable to consider getting malpractice insurance. Several jurisdictions require malpractice insurance for those who engage in the "practice of law," and it is a good idea in general. In other cases, however, the freelance lawyer may be covered by the hiring attorney's malpractice policy.
The most straightforward answer is to work through a legal freelancing platform, such as Legal Recruitment Scotland, which has addressed these moral concerns. The Legal Recruitment Scotland platform is designed to solve these concerns. Freelancers working on a project may not have any communication with the client, opposing attorneys, witnesses, or other parties interested in the case. Also, the hiring attorney must monitor the freelancer and take full professional responsibility for the job. Legal Recruitment Scotland explicitly forbids freelancers from providing legal advice or other legal services to the hiring attorney's client without additional verification required. This is exactly what most independent lawyers want. The ability to practise law without having to worry about the commercial side of it.
Hourly Rates and Payment Options
The most common and well-known fees are flat rates and hourly charging. Each has advantages as well as disadvantages. With flat rates, the hiring attorney knows exactly what they will pay. The freelancer is also aware of how much they will make in their freelance law practice. But what if the project takes far longer than expected? Hourly billing may better reflect the freelancer's work and worth, but clients are typically cautious about increasing legal bills.
Some aspects to take into consideration when determining freelancing rates are as follows:
Experience plays a major part in fee setting. More experienced solicitors might charge greater fees than rookie freelancers because, in general, they will be more efficient and have a better understanding of the law.
How much you can charge for your services depends primarily on your practice area and area of expertise. While general civil litigation is an important skill to have, specialised freelancers in high-demand practice areas will likely be able to charge/find higher fees.
Be mindful of geographical differences. Physically working in low-cost rural places while arbitraging urban areas with higher legal fees is an excellent approach for increasing your income. When scheduling your work, though, keep project deadlines in mind. Working across different time zones can present its own set of issues.
Aside from an established platform, you will need a documented price agreement between you and your hiring attorney client. Professional conduct standards often mandate it, and it is simply a best practice for avoiding future issues. Legal Recruitment Scotland handles this for its clients, seamlessly linking freelancers and employing solicitors.
Look for a Platform
Legal Recruitment Scotland was established to connect busy solicitors with a nationwide network of thousands of competent freelance lawyers. Legal Recruitment Scotland is the only freelance legal marketplace that allows freelance lawyers to practice ethically with all moral and ethical concerns covered, with a focus on serving single solicitors and small companies. employing attorneys simply post a project, freelancers respond, and the employing attorney chooses the best candidate. Work on the marketplace is normally completed on a project-by-project basis. However, Legal Recruitment Scotland's Virtual Associate Subscription Plan enables employing solicitors to collaborate with a desired freelancer on a recurrent basis for a specified number of hours per month.
Choose the Best Technology
If you're going to do it, do it properly. In today's freelance law profession, technology is your friend. Make sure to include the fundamentals of your law practice.
Many freelancers must have access to a large number of legal research resources. Lexis-Nexis, Westlaw, and FastCase are all easily available options, and hiring solicitors will expect you to have access to at least one for research-related tasks. FastCase is often included as a free member benefit by most bar associations.
Calendly eliminates the back-and-forth associated with appointment scheduling. Calendly, which first launched in 2013, has grown to become the world's largest scheduling platform. Set up an appointment with a single click rather than three or four emails.
It is a recipe for disaster to practice law without practice management software, whether as a freelancer or not. This software assists lawyers with various parts of their practice, and there are several solutions available. Browse around until you find a product that suits you. They are intended to reduce expenses, increase productivity, and lead to more profits.
Denovo is one such solution, with a package of features designed to make attorneys' jobs easier. Denovo offers document and case management, online billing, accounting, time tracking, and compatibility with over 200 popular apps. Legal Recruitment Scotland is on the list. The integration enables freelancers to easily connect Denovo and Legal Recruitment Scotland, allowing Denovo users to perform nearly any function on the Legal Recruitment Scotland platform.
Best Practices as a Freelancer
Freelancers have almost unparallelled flexibility and control over their professional lives. Now that you're your own employer, put yourself in the position of your hiring attorney and consider some best practices.
Response promptly: Future clients of yours are also busy people, just like solicitors themselves. Respond to emails and phone calls as quickly as possible. Address any issues raised in your projects directly and ensure a security check is in place. Give your clients the service that they want and deserve.
Track your billable hours: Even though you work for a flat fee, you must keep track of your billable hours. The value you provide extends beyond your job output and includes your billable hours. If the employing attorney is unable to charge your time effectively, you have not completed your duties. Legal Recruitment Scotland's platform includes an integrated time-entry system, which makes this process easier.
Don't oversell then fail to deliver: Avoid giving out too much and not enough: Nobody appreciates a late submission or an inadequate work result. If a project is outside of your comfort zone, you may want to look for something more familiar. Freelancing can be a terrific opportunity to try out a new practice area but don't overextend yourself by taking on a project you have no business working on. Avoid misrepresenting your prior work experience or skill set.
Summary
It's time to challenge the current paradigms of legal practice by summarily discarding these obsolete, conventional models in favour of the future. There is a great deal of freelance legal work, which is rising. It is clearly obvious that legal service delivery is rapidly changing. Today, freelancers may essentially operate their businesses from their smartphones. With adequate preparation and planning, adherence to ethics rules, and hard-yet-smart labour, freelancers can position themselves to succeed in today's modern legal market.
