Sometimes, a business -- e-commerce enterprises among them -- just
doesn't have the people power to meet some demands that may come up
unexpectedly or that were anticipated from the start. This situation can arise
for a number of reasons, from increased business to expansion to mergers.
When the demand for more minds and hands develops, using contract
staff provides businesses with a flexible staffing alternative. Contractors
allow for a temporary, and sometimes indefinite, expansion of the workforce for
a particular project. Occasionally, contractors join the staff as permanent
employees -- whether to sustain new business demands, to replace staff lost by
attrition or otherwise or to fulfill new duties brought on by additional
business.
Law firms use Temporary Attorneys to aid in large-scale document
reviews such as those often required in e-discovery as well as for mergers,
internal audits and other matters that require an influx of temporary help.
Of course, the subject matter involved in these wide-ranging
projects varies, which makes contractors an ideal solution for dynamic
business. If a project requires that attorneys or other workers who are or may
be involved have a specific background, then law firms, or the agencies they
hire, may well be better positioned using temporary workers who also may be
making a specialty of the work required. And often, projects require only a
general legal background, which makes finding candidates far easier.
But whatever the situation that demands looking for short-term or
long-term employees -- for staff positions or contract work -- firms should
consider the key factors when hiring temporary attorneys.
WHAT TO CONSIDER IN THE BEGINNING
The old adage "The best defense is a good offense,"
invariably proves true in so many situations that it's not surprising that it
applies to the business process of hiring contract workers -- regardless of
whether those workers are attorneys, other office staff or even managers.
So, assessing key factors from the beginning allows the hiring
personnel to exert effective project management from the start. A point to
ponder is that although this approach is often discussed, it's frequently
sidestepped or given short shrift in the ever-pressured office suites and
conference rooms of the commercial and professional sectors, but don't give in,
because slowing down, buckling down and paying attention from the start is the
best way to guard against catastrophe at or near the end.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
The essential questions that must be asked are determined by:
·
the kind of work that is involved;
·
the structure of the firm that is or will be hiring the
contractors, and
·
the applicable jurisdictional rules that will apply to the work.
Specifically, the most basic questions involve timing and
location. For instance:
· How much
work does the firm need to accomplish?
· What's
the deadline by which the work must be completed?
· A
bottom-line logistical consideration: Where should the project take place?
The answers to these questions determine how many contractors the
firm needs to hire for the project and will help hiring personnel determine the
most accurate figure for the projected number of hours that will be needed to
finish the work. And because deadlines often must be bent to accommodate
unpredictable variables or work must be accelerated to meet a deadline that
can't be bent, firms should consider overtime as well.
SPACE CONSIDERATIONS
Of course, a consideration to throw into the equation here is that
paying overtime requires fewer contractors, but can lead to a significant cost
increase.
Space also influences these decisions. For example, does the firm
have adequate space at its headquarters or other location, or should the
project take place off-site, and if so, where? If the project must be done
partly or entirely off-site, will the law firm or firm hiring the contract
attorneys use its own facilities, a client's -- such as the client or clients
involved in the work being done -- or will space have to be leased or rented?
How much will that cost, and how will those costs affect the project?
This article addresses basic hiring steps and so won't go into
details of logistics concerns, but they are important factors that must be
addressed.
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE
After weighing these considerations, principals involved in the
work must weigh the type of project being tackled, which will guide them to the
next step: Does the project involve an impending merger, document-intensive
litigation or some kind of specialized filing? The answers to these questions
dictate deciding whether contract candidates need specialized experience. If
they do, then the specific qualifications the candidates should possess must be
sorted out and clearly defined. For example, if a firm needs contractors to
review documents for a telecommunications merger, do qualified candidates need
a familiarity with the relevant antitrust statutes, or will a general legal
background suffice? Hirers must also consider whether the candidates need prior
document-review experience, because sometimes, prior experience can speed the
completion of the project, but at other times, seasoned reviewers' broad
experience may present a conflict for them working on a specific case, and they
must be excluded from consideration.
THE LAY OF THE LAND
The type of project to be done also raises jurisdictional
concerns. Jurisdiction, for example, determines what code of ethics applies to
the case or project. Rules vary by jurisdiction, so where the project takes
place matters a great deal.
Consider: The District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that
attorneys doing contract work within the jurisdiction need to be admitted to
the D.C. Bar. This holding required temporary attorneys to waive into the D.C.
Bar within 90 days of practicing in the District. This holding characterizes
practicing law to include document review, so temporary Attorneys hired to do
document review for a firm in the Washington metropolitan area must waive into
the D.C. Bar. Determining the applicable jurisdictional rules will guide a
firm's search for candidates because the rules dictate the appropriate bar
status required of any attorney hired for the project who might handle
applicable duties. But keep in mind that bar status doesn't always affect the
project. Sometimes, for instance, nonbarred attorneys or attorneys barred
anywhere are sufficient to do the work, though knowing up-front the
jurisdictional rules will prevent problems during the project, and preventing
them, it should go without saying, usually means smoother sailing than having
to meet them -- and, sometimes, determine them -- once work has begun.
WHERE TO LOOK
After deciding on the basics as outlined above, recruiters will be
confronted with the quite-relevant question of how to find the temporary
Attorneys needed. Two options exist:
1. Hiring contractors independently; or
2. Using a staffing agency.
Remember, too, that the type of project and the amount of direct
contact with the contractors influence the decision of how to hire the contract
lawyers.
The benefits of using a staffing agency are discussed below.
As with any work, the type of project also influences the type of
technological support that will be required. Making sure that the firm's
network can sustain the amount of use necessary will prevent crashes that can
slow the project. Security is also an important concern. Providing Internet access
poses a risk to the network, for instance. As for other technology concerns, if
the project requires litigation support, popular document-review programs
include Summation, Concordance, DT Search Desktop and Introspect.
Another security concern: What level of access will contract
workers have to firm data or to data involved in the project? Also, will
contract workers have total or some type of specific limited access to the
facility or multiple sites where the project is being done? And during what times
will that access be permitted?
Helping to ensure security will likely involve working with IT
personnel so that the appropriate levels of access and security can be put in
place and monitored, and then parameters changed, if necessary, after the
project is completed. Also, what if some or all of the contractors must return
to the office or to a site to continue or begin another phase of the project
that was anticipated for another date, or to begin a part of the project that
hadn't been anticipated because it couldn't have been?
Answers to questions above that any particular project may demand
be asked will guide the search for creating the contract-staffing situation
best tailored to the needs of the firm and the project at issue. Remember that
old adage as it echoes through the halls of your firm as you plan any project:
Accurately assessing the situation from the beginning will aid in creating
cost-effective staffing solutions for the entire project.
BENEFITS OF USING A STAFFING AGENCY
Instead of investing your firm's time and energy conducting a
candidate search, using a staffing agency allows experts to look for the
qualifications that a particular business endeavor requires. A staffing agency
provides a built-in screening process and should ensure that each candidate has
the minimum qualifications. Staffing agencies work from an existing pool of
candidates, but also have the capability to recruit specialized candidates
using various search engines and other recruitment tools. Additionally,
staffing agencies provide the benefit of managing the temporary Attorneys while
they are on the project, which entails taking care of payroll and scheduling --
a major break for the hiring firm.
Making a decision about which agency to use requires some
investigation. Legal recruiting is a specialized field, but each agency can
offer slightly different services. Some agencies screen candidates better than
others do, which means that they are doing more to verify the credibility of
their candidates. Some agencies, for instance, do reference and background
checks and verify every candidate's degree and bar status. But some agencies
check only an applicant's references.
It's also important to confirm that the staffing agency meets and
interviews each candidate who is registered with the agency. Similarly,
recruiters at some firms choose to meet with the potential contract employees
and conduct another interview. The staffing agency can coordinate this process
and ensure that all of the necessary information about each candidate is
provided.
Some agencies can also offer litigation support in-house, which is
an important amenity if space is an issue. In this sort of situation, the staffing agency
will provide the work space for the project, the technical support and the
temporary Attorneys. This setup is ideal for firms for which space and extra
support staff are in short supply. It allows firms to grow their business
without having to grow their physical location. If the placement agency
provides space, then the fees increase to cover overhead, but this arrangement
provides a low-maintenance way to conduct additional business and requires the
client to do little or no legwork.
Another crucial factor to consider is pricing. Pricing often
determines the feasibility of the business venture from the beginning.
Determining the hourly market price for temporary Attorneys, then, is critical.
The most efficient way to do this is to compare the bill rates of several
placement firms. For instance, in the Washington, D.C., market the pay rate for
D.C. barred or bar-pending temporary Attorneys varies. The bill rate then
varies by agency. Paying overtime varies, too. Typically, temporary Attorneys
are compensated at the set hourly rate for the first 40 hours they work each
week. Any additional hours are billed as overtime.
Factors that increase an hourly rate per attorney include bar
status and the number of years of the attorneys' experience. As one might
guess, hiring barred attorneys is typically more expensive than hiring
nonbarred attorneys. There's also an increased hourly rate when hiring a
contractor with years of substantive experience. Similarly, the specified field
-- antitrust or family law, for instance -- affects the bill rate. An inside
track to hiring contractors is that it also provides a way for firms to test
candidates who may later end up as permanent employees.
Working with a staffing agency also presents an opportunity to
develop a business relationship. When deciding which staffing firm to work
with, clients should consider the reputation of the firm in the legal community
and the level of customer service provided to clientele.
Often, projects requiring contract staff develop suddenly --
projects that a firm hadn't considered would fall into their laps and they must
ramp up quickly to handle them. Working with a staffing agency whose personnel
understand the urgency of a client's business needs leads to better customer
service all around. Agencies that put this business principle into practice can
provide firms with qualified candidates in a timely fashion -- and that's one
of the first measures of that ounce-of-prevention rule.
Rahul D. Yodh
is a Principal of Link Legal Search Group, a boutique legal search &
staffing firm that provides lateral attorney recruitment and contract attorney
services to organizations nationwide. For more information on Link Legal Search
Group, please visit
www.linklegalsearch.com 