Tips on Starting and Running a Practice as a Freelance Lawyer, From LawJobChat

On June 29, I co-hosted #LawJobChat on Twitter. The chat, moderated by Amanda Ellis of Amanda Ellis Legal Search and Melissa Sachs of RecruiterEsq, focused on how to start and run a successful practice as a freelance lawyer.

In a follow-up post on her blog, The 6Ps of the Big 3, Amanda identified the following points as highlights of the chat:

• Business: Freelance lawyers are business owners who set their own hours and decide what work they want to do (i.e., substantive leglankal research and writing).
• Malpractice insurance: Freelance lawyers need their own malpractice insurance and you can read why in Lisa’s guide to contract lawyering.
• Ethical considerations: All states allow freelance lawyering. ABA Formal Op 08-451 is the main ethics opinion regarding freelance lawyering, and you can read Lisa’s analysis of the opinion here.
• Resources: Resources/organizations supporting freelance lawyers include: (1) National Association of Freelance Legal Professionals; (2) Freelance Law; (3) Legal Research & Writing Pro; and (4) list of technology Lisa uses in her freelance practice.
• Law Students: Law students can even freelance through Law Clerk Connection.
• Getting Started: Go where the clients are–for example, litigation section of your bar association. Talk to small firm lawyers and solos and offer to take some work off their hands.

You can read the full chat transcript here.

Thanks to Amanda and Melissa for inviting me to co-host #LawJobChat. For information about future #LawJobChats, follow @LawJobChat on Twitter or subscribe to Amanda’s blog.