Alternative fee arrangements are no longer optional - freelancers can help law firms adjust

The Wall Street Journal has cited Pfizer, Cisco, and American Express as just a few companies intent on reducing the amount of legal fees it pays to its outside law firms. "'Billable Hour' Under Attack," Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2009, Nathan Koppel and Ashby Jones.

Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group, is reportedly bypassing its external counsel and working directly with a legal outsourcing company to outsource some of its legal work, saving $1M in legal fees by paying lower rates that its main external counsel Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie. "Outsourcing is taking hold," Financial Post, August 26, 2009.

U.S. law firms ought not wait until their clients start outsourcing for them. Onshore outsourcing by using freelance legal professionals needs to be explored, and through the use of FreelanceLaw.com, that is easy to accomplish.

FreelanceLaw.com is an online, searchable database that allows law firms to connect with freelance legal professionals. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to post a single job/project post for 30 days, law firms can search a database of over 1,200 freelancers at no cost and directly negotiate agreements with them. Furthermore, unlike other freelancer sites like guru.com, FreelanceLaw was designed by an attorney, factoring in the specific needs and requirements of the legal industry.

Explore the FreelanceLaw.com experience with a FREE "Introduction to FreelanceLaw.com" webinar, offered on September 28th at 11:00am Pacific (2pm Eastern), and October 1st at 3:00pm Pacific (6pm Eastern). REGISTER NOW at the FreelanceLaw website.

Prior registration as a user of FreelanceLaw.com is recommended, but not required, for participation in the webinar.

A growing number of law firms are looking to FreelanceLaw to find legal freelancers

The recession is hitting the legal profession hard, reportedly putting at least 10,000 legal professionals out of a job just this year. Law firms that learn to adapt and modify their business practices will be the ones that survive and thrive. Strategic use of legal outsourcing is one part of an evolving law firm business structure.

Law firms from 12 states, ranging from AmLaw100 to solo practitioners, have already turned to the FreelanceLaw database to locate freelance attorneys, paralegals, interpreters, and more. Unlike any other freelancer website, FreelanceLaw was designed by an attorney for attorneys with confidentiality of law firms and their underlying clients a priority. There is no need to publicly post project needs; just confidentially search profiles of over 1,100 freelancers and directly contact them through the FreelanceLaw website.

Law firms are invited to search for legal freelancers in 30 states and counting

Freelance legal professionals from 30 states have already registered as beta-testers of the FreelanceLaw online legal outsourcing network and we are preparing to introduce them on this FreelanceLaw blog.

Attorneys, paralegals, interpreters and other professionals have signed up from the following states: Alabama, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

FreelanceLaw is now welcoming law firms to join the network. Register as a law firm beta-tester, search for and contact legal professional in your area, and receive email notification of when a new freelancer in the area joins the network.