Bull Market
| Author | Danielle Braff |
| Pages | 35-36 |
Business of Law
APRIL 2019 ABA JOURNAL || 35
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOEL ZELDIN, UPCOUNSEL
Flexible hours, long vacations a nd the ability to
pick and choose your assign ments.
Yes, it’s actually a possibil ity for lawyers—if
you become a legal freela ncer, an option that’s
appealing to more att orneys every year. Lawyer
Exchange, Montage Leg al Group, LegalBee, Aggreg ate Law, Hire
an Esquire and a ha ndful of other companies were created t o spe-
cifically conne ct freelance lawyers w ith law firms.
For example, 25,000 lawyers have sig ned up for UpCounsel,
which provides vett ed freelance attorneys to l aw firms, busi-
nesses and indiv iduals. UpCounsel has been grow ing by 5 percent
monthly, according to Mason Bla ke, co-founder and chief technol-
ogy ocer of the San Fra ncisco-based company. Since its launch in
2013, UpCounsel has grow n its revenues an average of 100 to 300
percent year over year, in par t because of the thousands of new
customers per year, Blake rep orts. In addition, the number of new
matches has continued t o grow proportionally.
More businesses are on the platfor m: Over 18,000 businesses
have used UpCounsel, and ma ny use it as their primary lega l solu-
tion, according to Bla ke. A growing number of businesses are
having greater, more complex and more diver se legal needs that
require more lawyers t o be procured, he says.
“Buyers are increasi ngly driven to purchase legal ser vices online,
decoupled from traditiona l institutions, to acces s quality and con-
venience without the high cos ts,” Blake says. “With the increasingly
high number of lawyers choosi ng to work outside of the traditional
firm or corporate lega l department, there is a large supply of ta lent
to meet the growi ng demand.”
The freelance law yers are also known as consu ltants, contractors
or litigation support personnel—or they ’re law school graduates
who haven’t landed at a full-time fir m yet. They’re all freelanc ing
Bull Market
Freelance attorneys benefit
from growing demand
By Danielle Bra
Law
Practice
notice provisions complicat es the ending—but things
change when money’s at stake, li ke when the partner
has a big book of business or a large g roup is depart-
ing together.
“The firm want s to circle the wagons with the cli-
ents and take the init iative while the lawyer is stil l at
their firm, and say, ‘Lawyer X i s departing, but we’d
like to continue doing your work,’ ” explain s Zeldin, a
partner at San Fra ncisco boutique Shartsis Fr iese.
According to Zeldi n, a firm is more likely to
enforce holds on its best par tners—in other words,
the ones with the most client s and largest books of
business.
Additionally, Bill Cobb, a firm c onsultant at Cobb
Consulting in Houston, say s he’s seen a dispropor-
tionate number of holds enforced on “lone wolf ” law-
yers who tend to get in conflic ts with co-workers and
hoard clients rather tha n act as team players.
“Law firms wi ll say, ‘You just don’t fit the culture,
since you’re trying to t ake a bunch of clients from us,
so we are going to slap a hold on you,’ ” Cobb says.
The hold could aect a lawyer i mmensely—or not
at all.
When the new firm recr uits the partner because
it thinks she’s a great at torney and knows how to
develop clients well, the firm doe sn’t mind a hold—
even if means some clients st ay with the old firm,
Cobb says.
“The other scenar io would be, ‘Well, without that
book, you can’t come over here,’ ” Cobb says. “It has
nothing to do with the hold—it has ever ything to
do with the fact t he guy or gal had promised all th is
stu that never happened.” Q
Joel Zeldin represent s partners in dispu tes with firms when
they’re departing for new fi rms.
UpCounsel co-fou nders Mason Blake (le ft) and Matthew Faustma n
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