3 Reasons to Hire a Freelance Associate for Legal Writing and Research

1. Make money

I remember the first phone call my I got from a prospective client. “$90 an hour?!” he balked, as he proceeded to hang up on me. He didn’t get it. Most freelance associates charge a significantly lower hourly rate than most full-time attorneys, and most freelance associate work is billable to your client. Some law firms even choose to bill their client for the freelancer’s work at the hourly rate of an associate at their firm, effectively making money off the freelancer’s legal writing and research.

2. Save money

I presume that the prospective client who hung up on me was comparing my hourly rate to that of a full-time associate. It may be true that some (brand new) associates might only be making around $50.00/hour when you divide their monthly salary by 40+ hours a week. However, that associate is getting paid for billable AND non-billable work whether clients are coming in the door or not. A freelance associate is only around when business is booming and only gets paid for billable work. When you hire a legal writing and research freelancer, there’s no sweating whether or not you can make payroll if it has been a slow month.

3. Save time

This is an obvious one. Every lawyer knows how laborious some legal research and writing tasks can be. Precious time finding case law to support your Chapter 11 impracticability argument could be spent preparing for oral argument, calling that client back who left a message over a week ago, or, perhaps most importantly, making it to your kid’s soccer game. Don’t waste time on projects that do not require your unique, individual presence. Leave that to the legal writing and research freelancer. Focus your time on projects that require your individuality (ie: oral arguments, zoom meetings, phone calls to clients, and family).