Temporary Attorneys Can Help Firms Handle Big Cases. But What To Tell—And Bill—Clients?

Last year, a 125-lawyer Dallas-based firm was faced with the daunting task of reviewing the medical records of more than 100,000 claimants who had just reached settlements with the firm’s biggest client.

Instantly, the firm managers knew they needed help. Unless they pulled associates off other cases, they were not going to be able to get the records reviewed in time. On the other hand, they recognized that if they hired additional attorneys and support staff, they would not be able to retain them after the project was completed. The project itself was not complicated, just very time consuming; the records had to be reviewed in order to complete a corresponding checklist.

Their answer: temporary help. The firm’s management organized teams primarily made up of contract or project attorneys, paralegals, and clerks. Partners and associates, who had worked on the cases and were familiar with them, led each team.

The plan was a success. The medical records were reviewed well before the deadline, and in the process, the firm added to its bottom line.

By bringing on additional billable staff, the firm was able to expand its revenue-generating capacity. They could bill the time generated by the project attorneys and staff, with a very manageable overhead expense. At the same time, the firm was charged only a fraction of this rate for the hours each project professional worked and did not have the traditional burden (payroll taxes and benefits) that comes with a full-time employee.

This is just one example of how, as the economic outlook brightens,law firms are drastically changing their approach to staffing.

Almost three years ago, when the U.S. economy first showed signs of slipping into a recession, firms were structured in ways that did not allow them to respond effectively to the changing economy. To put it simply, firms were obese, having gorged themselves during the booming economy. One lesson learned is the importance for law firms to build a nimble staffing program that maximizes resources in an economically responsible way.

One option gaining popularity among law firms is organizing staff into specialized teams consisting of experienced, proficient, full-time, and temporary legal professionals. These teams are uniquely configured to meet the needs of a specific case or project or for a component of a case, such as discovery. Project based teams offer several advantages:

• Efficient use of resources. Many projects can be handled by bringing in specialized temporary legal professionals with appropriate skill sets and levels of experience, who are then supervised by in-house staff. This allows the firm to integrate a major project into its caseload without overtaxing resources or failing to properly service other clients.

• Strategic composition. Supervising attorneys or team leaders can handpick professionals from internal firm staff—and from outside the firm—with the specific experience and skills they need. Once a project is under way, the team can be adjusted as needed by adding or removing people from the team. This allows the firm to easily adapt to the many curveballs encountered during a lengthy case.

• Economical. Select professionals can be brought in as needed to fill specific roles on a project-based team. Their time can be limited to those parts of a case requiring their skill and expertise. This approach to staffing can lead to significant savings on overhead costs, especially in large or lengthy cases.

• Flexibility. By including temporary employees on the team, a smaller firm can take on a major litigation case it might otherwise have to forgo.

MORE CHOICES

Project-based staffing is not a new concept—law firms learned long ago that teams of legal professionals working together on the same case or project could help achieve greater productivity from available resources.

The fundamental difference today is that the teams are composed of a wider array of professionals and offer more flexibility.

Outside specialists and professionals may come from litigation support organizations, other law firms serving as co-counsel, and specialized legal staffing firms. A project-based team will usually include a balanced combination of attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, clerks, coders, and other full-time and temporary professionals.

There are certain types of cases that can benefit from the use of project-based staffing, including:

• Large/lengthy multistate, multiparty litigation. As a case grows in size, the costs associated with it grow not proportionally but exponentially. Project teams composed of in-house personnel and supplemented with outside specialists as needed (as opposed to hiring large numbers of new full-time staff) can help regulate costs.

• Document-intensive cases. Even in smaller cases, the volume of paperwork and documents has exploded in recent years. All this paper must be reviewed, sorted, and coded, so that a critical document or e-mail is not overlooked.

Rather than redirect internal staff from other cases, securing a number of project professionals to supplement a team of fulltime employees can be a highly effective approach. Firms can also turn to outside litigation support companies that possess the latest and greatest technology to handle parts of this document organization.

Other projects that can benefit from the use of temporary lawyers include large transactions, contract reviews, bankruptcies, and corporate governance.

INEVITABLE QUESTIONS

The use of this staffing strategy leads you to ask some inevitable questions, especially when it comes to project attorneys. How do you explain their use to your client? After all, if they are so highly qualified, why don’t they have full-time jobs?

You must explain to your client that this is an outdated opinion. Many project attorneys today have the qualifications to work in any large firm, but have chosen temporary work for lifestyle reasons.

Some are not the primary earners in their family and prefer the flexibility; others may have just relocated to the area and are using project-based work to break into the local market. Additionally, you can remind your client these attorneys will be supervised by team leaders from the firm familiar with their case. 

The American Bar Association recommends advising the client and obtaining client consent whenever a project attorney is performing independent work for a client without the close supervision of an attorney associated with the law firm.

However, where the project attorney is working under the direct supervision of a lawyer associated with the firm, disclosure is not ordinarily required.

What would be a reasonable rate to bill a client for work performed by a project attorney? To date, no ABA, state, or local bar opinion has directly addressed project attorney billing rates. Depending on the project attorney’s background and level of experience, he or she could be billed out at rates comparable to that of an associate.

A good rule of thumb is that you can bill a project lawyer out for up to three times the rate you are paying. Specialized legal staffing firms usually charge firms a specific rate for each attorney, taking into account the lawyer’s level of experience compared with your needs.

What about conflicts of interest? If these project attorneys are mercenaries working for every firm in town, how can a firm assure itself that there is no real or potential conflict of interest?

Conflict-of-interest issues must be resolved before the project attorney relationship begins. Both the hiring firm and the project attorney must determine whether there are any conflicts.

Hiring firms should maintain complete records showing the clients and matters worked on by each project attorney. The project attorney also needs to maintain a complete record of all cases handled and law firms served throughout his or her career.

The use of project-based staffing is an advanced and proven strategy to maximize personnel resources, allowing savvy law firms access to premier talent efficiently and economically.

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 

Submitting Collateral Information With Your Resume

When attorneys apply for a job they will usually need to submit collateral information such as transcripts and writing samples in addition to a standard resume. I spoke to The Ladders about this process.

Sending a link to an online portfolio, as opposed to including materials as attachments, is "always OK," according to Rahul D. Yodh, a partner in the legal executive search and consulting firm Link Legal Search Group. 

In some industries, attachments are de rigueur, said Yodh. "Most law firms require transcripts when considering attorney candidates, and without a transcript your application is incomplete," he said.  

Other industries require artwork or writing samples, including journalism outlets or advertising firms. "If it is the norm in your industry then feel free to submit it, and you won't have to worry about being removed from consideration," Yodh said.  

But even if your industry is tolerant of or requires attachments, don't go overboard, Yodh advised. "Feel free to submit a list of references, but don't attach five letters of reference."  

If you do send attachments, remember to keep them as small as possible. "Send a couple of MBs of attachments and the e-mail server or firewall on the other end might bounce it back," Yodh said.

To read the complete article click here: Send The Resume Solo 

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 

Temporary Attorneys Are More Profitable

Following in the footsteps of many large, East Coast based law firms, Southern California firms are relying more and more on temporary attorneys for help with the rising amount of discovery documents, and particularly electronic discovery. Since 1999, 90 percent of all documents produced are electronic correspondence and data. This has certainly created a market for an unusual, and highly profitable, utilization of legal talent.

The vast majority of firms increasing their use of contract attorneys in the last three years contribute it to the burden of document discovery. Many firms, however, view document review as a profit center. Contract Attorney rates are at a fraction of the cost to pay their internal staff. Firms engage staffing agencies to find experienced, qualified document reviewers and handle all administrative tasks related to scheduling and payment of the contractors. Some staffing firms, such as Davidson Attorneys, also offer clients space and laptops for the project, and provide project management to prevent the firm's associates from being inundated by questions. This frees up their associates to perform more substantive work.

Discovery costs in litigation can be extremely expensive and often frustrate a firm's efforts. Cost sensitive clients are often advised to settle, even when they have a good case. Some firms find it extremely beneficial to pass through the cost savings of using contract attorneys to their client to encourage the client to move forward to trial.

In recent years, and with growing frequency, corporate clients are requesting their legal counsel hire contract attorneys to assist with document intensive matters, including mergers and acquisitions and to keep litigation costs down. Some corporate clients with in-house legal departments are even taking it upon themselves to take bids from and engage staffing firms.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of using contract attorneys is not having to be stuck with the extra labor and paying wages when the work ends, and it can end suddenly. Some may wonder why attorneys would choose to do this type of work, especially with its instability. A common misconception is that the only attorneys who would do document review are those who cannot find other employment. In fact, reasons for seeking document review work vary greatly, and currently there are as many as 5,000 attorneys in Washington D.C. working full time as document reviewers.

Many document review attorneys are graduates of top-tier law school schools, trying to figure out which direction to take. Some attorneys are transitioning between jobs, others looking for supplemental work to their own law practice, and some desiring the flexibility to travel or pursue non-legal ventures. Attorneys licensed in other states that have relocated to California typically seek document review work while they prepare for our notorious Bar exam, and some reviewers are seasoned attorneys that leave jobs at large firms for medical reasons or to raise families. There is a great deal of legal talent out there and available to assist firms when they need it.

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 visitwww.linklegalsearch.com

References... Who Should You Use?

I am sometimes surprised at how little thought goes into an attorney’s reference list. I have spent a fair amount of time in my career checking attorney references, and have often asked myself, “Why in the world did this attorney list this individual as a reference?” I have had references tell me awful things about candidates, or, more often, give me limp, lukewarm endorsements. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing individuals as references.

1. Can the individual speak to my skill set?

When you are listing references, the first, most obvious choice is to use your immediate work provider. (If this is not possible because you have had negative experiences with this person, please see Section 3, below). However, any work provider can serve as a reference.

Although a partner may be your main work provider, you may not be their main associate. You may well need to remind this person of the work you have done for them, especially if they are a reference from a former position, and it has been awhile. Please, please, do this. I suggest calling a former work provider rather than emailing, but you should probably follow up with an email, in which you can remind them of your role in significant projects performed for them. The last thing you want is for a reference-checker to be told by a reference that they can’t remember what you did for them.

I have had people list non-work references such as pastors, non-legal business partners, even family members. I do not recommend this.

2. Does the individual like me, and are they enthusiastic about the work I produced?

References should glow. It is likely that the people who will check your references spend a fair amount of their day checking references. They know what to ask, and they know what to listen for. They immediately know the difference between someone who truly thinks you are spectacular and someone who is just going through the motions.

As discussed above, while you should use your main work provider if at all possible, you can use some judgment in your remaining references. Rather than using the most important or high-profile partners in your firm, I recommend using references who know you well, were very happy with your work, and will sing your praises to high heaven, even if that person is not someone who gets a lot of press. Again, people who check a lot of references are watching for this.

If one of your recommenders is a shy person, is very mellow, or just doesn’t have a great phone personality, you may let the firm know this, as discreetly as possible, of course.

3. Generally speaking, you should avoid listing a person from whom you have had negative feedback more than once.

I get questions about this fairly regularly. I do not recommend listing someone who negatively critiqued your work on any significant level, or has responded unfavorably to your work more than once. Understand that firms may contact that person anyway; it is not hard for a firm to figure out who you were probably working for if you were in a particular group or serviced a particular client. However, again, the last thing you want is to provide a reference who may say negative things about you. Therefore, even if it means that you do not list your main work provider, I would avoid listing someone who may say negative things about you. List other work providers, list work providers from past jobs who will glow when discussing you.

If you are on the fence about whether to list someone with whom you have had a questionable experience, simply….

4. Ask a Potential Reference What They Might Say About You.

No one is perfect. It is certainly is possible in life to recover from negative feedback and get a great reference from that person. If you are not sure whether you have truly recovered, you must find a way to ask before you list that person. I suggest simply asking the person if they are comfortable giving you a very positive reference. If they respond with some trepidation, I would think twice about using that person. The important thing is to get a true assessment of where you stand before you decide whether to list that person.

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 visitwww.linklegalsearch.com

You Need To Hire Temporary Attorneys... Now What?

Your case has entered the discovery phase and you are faced with the daunting task of reviewing millions of pages with a tight deadline for production to your adversary. Your firm does not have the resources to get through all of these materials in a timely manner. What are you going to do?

Whether you use a temporary attorney staffing agency to provide a pool of contract attorneys or hire directly, the same tips for hiring will apply. With a soft legal job market, there are plenty of bright, ambitious attorneys who will want to work on your project. The trick is learning how to select them.

For many attorneys, contract work provides a flexible work environment so that they can pursue other interests between jobs or in the evenings (e.g., writers, actors, entrepreneurs). Others may be trying to launch a solo practice, or may be new parents who don't want the big-firm grind. Some may have felt the sting of discrimination, and seek a way to enter the legal workplace.

Still others may have recently relocated or may not be admitted to practice in the state. Others simply may prefer a job that pays well that they don't have to take home with them at night.

RESUMES

Understanding these motivations can help you evaluate candidates. And their resumes can provide vital clues to help you select a successful review team.

First, fight the urge to favor pedigree as an indicator of quality. While you want bright people, it also takes a certain temperament and work ethic to competently review and analyze documents 10 hours a day.

Positive signs to look for in a resume include:

• Working for the same law firm(s) on multiple occasions.
• Repeated placement by the same agency or agencies.
• Second review, quality control and privilege review experience.
• Experience with multiple online review platforms.
• Placement on both short-term and long-term assignments.

Red flags include:

• Lack of second review, quality control or privilege review experience for experienced reviewers.
• Large, unexplained gaps in the resume.
• Candidates who lump all of their reviews under one heading so that you cannot ascertain how long they were on a project and/or the type and level of work performed.
• Listing "solo practitioner" as their current job description. Be wary of hiring solo practitioners if their practice requirements could lead to frequent absenteeism (e.g., due to court appearances, real estate closings). They might be great for a night shift, but unreliable in a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. slot.

THE INTERVIEW

Don't hire without an in-person interview. Some candidates look great on paper, but you will be only able to tell if they are an appropriate candidate if you meet them in person.

Brief 15-minute interviews of candidates will not only help you screen, but can help set a tone that communicates that you are invested in the reviewers as contributing members of your legal team.

Some interview tips:

• Candidates should arrive on time, be professionally dressed and properly groomed.
• Be cautious of candidates who cannot cogently discuss any of the reviews on which they have worked.
• If you use a staffing agency, insist that the agency rank the candidates it submits to you.
  
  This will force the staffing manager to truly reflect on the candidates who will best fit your firm's personality and will help you prioritize interviews.

EXPECT QUESTIONS

You should expect to be asked the following questions:

• What is the approximate duration of project?
• Does it pay a flat rate or does it pay overtime?
• Is there an opportunity for weekend work, and, if so, is it required?
• Are there any caps or minimum hours required?
• Is there flexibility to work from home?
• Is there an opportunity for a raise or completion bonus for long-term projects?

OFFERS

You should make your offers quickly and try to avoid startup delays to avoid losing the best candidates to other projects.

Always pay attorneys who are performing the same task at the same rate. Managers may make slightly more, but make sure their role includes tasks other than strictly document review.

REVIEW SITES

Staffing agencies will typically offer you "free" space for a large review.

However, while the agencies don't charge you directly for the room, they typically will bill you an additional $3 to $5 per hour, per attorney.

However, this may be well worth considering if your firm is small, or has no extra space -- because it will relieve you of the burden and costs of finding and maintaining space.

ENVIRONMENT

Be sure that your firm provides a pleasant and productive work environment:

• Cramped rooms or basement spaces are notorious in the industry and obviously disfavored.
• Provide desks or open tables in one large room to facilitate interaction between contract attorneys and supervisors. This will lead to a more consistent review.
• Bathrooms should be cleaned frequently and well-stocked.
• A break-out room where attorneys can take a call is also helpful.
• There should be plenty of coffee and beverages available for reviewers.
• Make sure that your site has offices for the site supervisor and associates.
• Be sure your site has as a high-speed printer, photocopier and office supplies.

TRAINING

It is very important to take the necessary time to present your attorneys with an overview of the case -- and follow that up with weekly meetings to respond to their questions and to provide feedback.

Do not undervalue the intelligence of your attorneys. Their understanding of the bigger picture enables them to think about the documents instead of mindlessly coding and makes them feel part of a team. The rewards are innumerable.

Imagine a partner asking you to write a memo, but refusing to tell you what the case is about or what you are trying to achieve.

LESSONS LEARNED

Using contract attorneys can be an effective way to tackle a large-scale review.

You will find that your best contract attorneys will respect you and will want to work with you on future matters, and will tell their colleagues who are looking for work.

And referrals from quality workers are almost always your best hiring bet! 

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 visitwww.linklegalsearch.com

How To Resign

With bonus season upon us, many law firm associates are beginning to plot their next career move. Some may be looking for an in-house or government job, a position with a smaller firm, or employment in another city, while some are simply looking to move to another firm not that much different than their current one. The good news is that lateral hiring picks up after the holidays and your chances of finding a new job are high. Here are some tips for resigning from your current job without burning any bridges:

• You MUST resign in person. It is unprofessional (and cowardly) to resign by email or phone.
• Give notice first thing in the morning. You’ll have more courage before that jolt of caffeine wears off and your boss is more likely to be around.
• Give your notice to just one person – preferably the partner or supervisor for whom you do the most work.
• The conversation with your boss on resigning should be brief and concise: “I want to let you know that I will be leaving (current firm) to join (future firm). I’ve thought long and hard about this decision and although I’ve really enjoyed my time here and have learned a lot, I know this is the right decision for me at this point in my career. Thank you for all of your guidance and mentoring and I hope we can stay in touch.”
• Don’t talk about resigning to your peers beforehand – you do not want your boss to hear about your resignation from another source.
• If your partner or boss is unsupportive or even angry – don’t take it personally. They are most likely sad to lose you and are already worrying about who is going to take over your matters.
• If your partner or boss asks you to reconsider leaving – stay strong. You have made your decision. In my experience, associates who withdraw their resignation wind up leaving within the year – mainly because of unfulfilled promises from the partner who encouraged them to stay.
• Please refrain from criticizing anyone or anything at your current firm – even if the HR department asks for feedback. Leave on a high note and stay positive.
• Ask the HR department for their departure policies and follow them closely. Do not take any client files, precedent or work product unless you have written permission to do so from the Conflicts Department.
• Take a break before you start at your new job. This is the only time in your career that you can take a vacation without having to check your email!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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 visitwww.linklegalsearch.com

How To Hire A Temporary Attorney

Law.com had a great article on how to hire temporary attorneys. You can find the full article here

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