First of all, what is a legal freelance consultant? And what will they do for you? Legal freelance consultants are independent contractors who work from either home or a remote workplace. In other words, they work from a “virtual” office as opposed to a traditional law firm. They are generally not connected to one employer, and work for a variety of clients across the globe. By being their own boss, they are able to choose the projects they want and maintain flexible hours. In your search, you may find that they go by other names, such as legal solo professional, legal virtual employee, legal independent contractor, legal virtual professional, self-employed legal consultant, etc.
Legal freelance consultants are able to help clients on numerous legal matters and can also perform local work on behalf of an out-of-town firm, such as court appearances and/or filing papers, which would eliminate a non-local attorney from having to travel to a specific location.
There are many within the industry lending themselves to this sort of freelancing including, but not limited to, lawyers, law students, paralegals, legal assistants, court reporters, secretaries, litigation support personnel, and legal nurse consultants.
Remote legal professionals can take care of matters such as legal transcription, research, contract drafting, deposition summary writing, indexing, paralegal services, legal writing, document drafting and preparation, litigation support, patent review, and so much more.
Now that you know what they do, where can you find a legal freelance consultant? The answer is simple – the internet. There are numerous freelancing sites. What you’ll want to do is peruse many of them, finding which one is best suited for your needs. Then, all you need to do is create your job listing. You can do this on one site or all of them. Be sure to put in as much information as necessary so that the freelancers know exactly what they will be bidding on.
Yes, you will have tons of people responding to your project listing with bids. Now that does not mean that you accept the lowest bid. Although, sometimes the lowest bidder can do a great job, that is not always the case. Perform your research. Go to each bidders profile page and check out all of their information, portfolios, reviews, and stats.
Once you narrow down the best freelancers for the job, you will have the opportunity to interview each one. Ask questions and narrow down again by their answers. It is extremely important to have good communication. If a freelancer does not communicate well with you, chances are the job will not get done to your liking.
Upon finding a great freelancer, you now have the potential to hire them on an “as needed” basis. No need to pay taxes, no office overhead, and no “hiring” “firing” worries, per se. In fact, you can hire multiple freelancers for different jobs and have them at your disposal. It’s really a win/win situation all around. Give it a try. I think you will find it the best way to go.
