Litigation Lawyer

Litigation Lawyer
From Wikipedia

In the beginning, the work of contract attorneys often entailed such activities as document review in response to a document subpoena or a request for production of documents. In such projects, contract attorneys were called upon to review tens of thousands, if not millions, of pages of documents and mark them as responsive to a particular request, or protected as attorney work product or under the attorney-client privilege. Large firms quickly learned that contract attorneys could perform this work much more cost effectively than high-priced associates.

The role of the contract

attorney has evolved, and now many contract, or freelance, attorneys perform legal research, draft legal briefs, and provide a full range of other services to law firms of all sizes. These attorneys typically work for themselves, rather than for temporary agencies, and provide their services to other law firms on an as-needed basis.

Some people who hold juris doctor degrees, but who are awaiting bar admission, work as temporary professionals in law firms doing the same type of work as contract attorneys. In addition, a law firm may, due to a conflict of interest, be required to hire a Cumis counsel in certain cases.

Contract

attorneys typically work on a project by project basis and are not full-time law firm employees. However, an increasing trend in contract law is to develop long-lasting relationships with firms that regularly or semi-regularly send work to the contract attorney. Many small firms find that the use of contract attorneys provides them the flexibility to grow their business without hiring salaried employees.According to the American Bar Association, law firms can add a surcharge to the fees of their contract attorneys so long as the final fee charged to the client is reasonable. Particularly in a slowing economy, the use of contract attorneys gives firms a competitive edge in the marketplace, helping them to control costs while increasing profitability.