Cost Savings

             Hiring a freelance attorney to handle your appeal is cost-effective. 

       If your in-house attorney writes the brief, you must pay the high overhead costs necessary to recruit, hire, train, and compensate that attorney.  You also incur the costs of legal research and professional liability insurance.

      By contrast, a freelance attorney is an independent contractor, not your employee.  He pays his own overhead costs, which normally are much lower.  

      In November 2008, ABA Ethics Opinion No. 08-451 observed:  "Outsourcing affords lawyers the ability to reduce their costs and often the costs to the client to the extent that the individuals or entities providing the outsourced services can do so at lower rates than the attorney's own staff. "

You increase your profit because you charge the client a higher fee for the appellate brief than you paid the freelance attorney, see ABA Op. 08-451 (approving such “markups” for outsourced work product), and your client is well-satisfied because you have lowered his overall litigation costs. 

Time Savings

         Hiring a freelance attorney allows you more flexibility in the time management of your practice.
 
        Every attorney has experienced the stress that comes from unexpected, temporary increases in his workload.  When you are swamped, and faced with looming deadlines or scheduling conflicts, you have two options. 

      You can either hire a permanent associate for your practice or retain a freelance attorney on a temporary basis. 

      The first option is not only more costly (see above),  but you may not need that new permanent employee once your normal work cycle resumes, and your workload decreases. 

      By contrast, you hire the freelance attorney only when you need the extra help.  When your workload stabilizes, you are not financially burdened by the additional overhead associated with creating a permanent associate’s position.

      Most importantly, an experienced freelance attorney who has special expertise in appellate briefing can complete the assignment more efficiently than an in-house attorney, who may not have comparable experience or expertise.   Because fees are based on hourly rates, these time savings will translate into significant cost savings for you.

Building the Practice

         Hiring a freelance attorney permits you to expand your client base and build your law practice.

      Small law practices often cannot hire in-house attorneys who have special expertise in appellate practice, or who have sufficient experience in more complex or esoteric areas of the law.  It simply is not cost-effective for them to maintain such a permanent in-house staff to handle these occasional cases.

      If you hire a freelance attorney, however, you can take on clients that you normally might bypass.  This maximizes your practice’s profitability and enhances its reputation.  You can channel the increased profits back into your practice.

       Small law practices often do not find it cost-effective to subscribe to broad-based legal research services like Westlaw or Lexis.  These electronic databases are just too expensive for attorneys who do not use them on a regular basis.  Freelance attorneys subscribe to these services because they are essential and oft-used tools of their trade.  You are assured of getting the most comprehensive and reliable legal research possible. 

      A freelance attorney produces a premium lower-cost legal service that will maximize the chances for a successful outcome.  In turn, your satisfied client is more likely to be a repeat client.