Interview With Lisa Solomon: A Solo Jumping On The #Altlaw Train With Now Counsel Network

A new leap forward in the freelance lawyering industry.

Carolyn ElefantRecovering lawyers and non-JDs aren’t the only folks starting #altlaw ventures these days. Solo and small firm attorneys are getting into the act as well — and I hope to occasionally cover these new innovations at my post here at ATL. This week, I want to start with an interview with Lisa Solomon, a solo freelance attorney for two decades who recently launched Now Counsel Network which provides project-based and temporary legal service support to busy solos and small law firms. [Disclosure: Lisa and I have collaborated professionally on various projects and she is a personal friend]. By the way, if you’re a solo or small who’s involved in an #altlaw venture, reach out to me at elefant@myshingle.com

​​Q. Welcome, Lisa and congratulations on the launch ​of​ Now Counsel Network. Can you tell us a little about this new venture?

A. Thanks, Carolyn. Now Counsel Network, which launched in early June, ​​is​​ ​​​​​​​​a nationwide network of experienced freelance lawyers who provide project-based and temporary support to help solos and small law firms increase profits, decrease stress and get their lives back.​ ​​NCN offers the convenience of allowing hiring firms to review multiple lawyer biographies on one website, and to access experienced lawyers — all NCN freelance lawyers have at least seven years of experience in practice and/or teaching legal writing at a law school.

​It’s easy to use NCN’s services. As described here, a firm submits a match, NCN identifies a freelance lawyer best suited for the project at which point the firm can contact the NCN lawyer to discuss details and enter into service agreement. NCN’s only involvement after the match is made is to provide the proprietary platform through which its freelance lawyers send, and hiring firms pay, invoices. Because NCN understands that detailed lawyer invoices may contain confidential information, to ensure the confidentiality of information contained in the freelance lawyers’ invoices, all invoice pages are protected by a password that is not shared with NCN.

Q. Even though NCN is a relatively new business providing freelance legal services, I know that you have provided freelance legal services on your own for two decades — and in fact, you are one of the pioneers in the “freelance legal” space. Can you take us back twenty years and describe what the legal landscape was like back then, and what led you to start offering freelance services at a time when few lawyers were doing it?

A.​ Actually, ​I don’t think that providing freelance legal services was​​ — or is now –particularly unusual​. It’s not uncommon for new lawyers to get experience by doing “contract” work for other lawyers. What’s unusual is that I was one of the first lawyers to actively market my services as a freelance lawyer, and to make freelance lawyering a career, rather than a temporary stage while developing a more traditional practice representing clients directly.​

​On the personal side, back in the mid-90s​, my husband and I were both working as lawyers in firms owned by other people. We wanted to have kids, and because he was 10 years further along in his career, we decided that I would be the one to do something non-traditional. After leaving my firm, I worked for Lexis for a year as a trainer in New York City-area law schools. Then, I worked as a remote, full-time W-2 employee for a Boston-based firm where I had worked as a paralegal during college. When they decided they wanted me to be an independent contractor, I started building up a broader clientele.

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Q. As I am sure you have noticed, freelance lawyering has become much more common in recent years. What in your opinion accounts for the increased popularity?

A. From the demand side, although a few bar associations (including the ABA) had previously issued ethics opinions directly or indirectly addressing issues relevant to working with freelance lawyers (such as confidentiality, conflicts and client consent), freelance lawyering got a huge boost in 2008, when the ABA issued Formal Op. 08-451, Lawyer’s Obligations When Outsourcing Legal and Nonlegal Support Services. A spate of state and local bar association ethics opinions soon followed. ​Then, between November 2010 and August 2012, freelance lawyering was again in the news in connection with the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission’s study of proposed changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (or, more accurately, the comments to the Model Rules) as they relate to domestic and international outsourcing. This was capped by the ABA’s adoption, in August 2012, of Resolution 105C, which amended​ ​the comments to ABA Model Rules 1.1, 5.3 and 5.5 to clarify lawyers’ obligations when outsourcing work​.

​​From the supply side,​ as freelance lawyering has become more well-known as a career option​, and its benefits have become more widely publicized, it has attracted more and more qualified lawyers at all stages of their careers. In fact, a number of lawyers at or near retirement (and even a retired judge) have applied, or expressed interest in applying, to become NCN freelance lawyers. Moreover, the increased popularity of freelance lawyering is consistent with the growth of the gig economy in general.

Q. Who are the freelance lawyers who are part of the network? Do they also have freelance businesses as you did​?​ ​

A. ​We have a growing pool of highly qualified freelance lawyers. For example, one is a Notre Dame Law School legal writing professor who clerked for 15 years for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois​. Another, who clerked at Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals​,​ ​is certified by the Florida Bar as both an Appellate Expert and Business Litigation Specialist; she’s also a CPA with an MBA in finance.

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Some of our freelance lawyers have been running their own freelance practices for a while; others are new to working as freelance lawyers. We support all of our lawyers by providing them with a sample services agreement and ​​Freelance Freedom​, ​a comprehensive collection of ethics opinions from across the country that are relevant to freelance lawyers and the attorneys who hire them​.​

Q. Although clearly you are a fan of freelancing, there are others who disagree. For example, there are some lawyers who regard freelancers as lawyers who “weren’t able to find a job” or are not sufficiently committed to the profession. And there are other lawyers who believe that “real” law firms will hire full-time associates instead of relying on freelancers for substantive legal work. How would you respond to those criticisms?

A. ​I think the first part of your question pertains more to “contract lawyers” than “freelance lawyers.” In many segments of the legal industry, the term “contract lawyer” refers to a lawyer or non-admitted law graduate who works as an employee of a legal employment agency or legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider. The agency or LPO provider, in turn, contracts with law firms for the use of its employees to perform work on a temporary basis. The agency or LPO provider bills the firm for the contract lawyer’s time; it pays the contract lawyer a percentage of the hourly fee collected from the firm. ​Many of these contract lawyers perform low-end work like document review for relatively low (for the legal industry) wages.

​By contrast, freelance lawyers are business owners who maintain their own offices, pay their own taxes, arrange for their own insurance and benefits, set their own schedules and fees, establish their own working conditions and pursue their own professional development.​ ​In fact, I’d argue that, in general, freelance lawyers are particularly committed to the profession because they get to be lawyers on their own terms.

As for the second part of your question, there are many ​​reasons why a firm might want to work with a freelance lawyer rather than hire a full-time associate. Hiring an associate requires a significant investment in both time and money. When ​a firm work​s​with a freelance lawyer, ​it​ pay​s​ only for the time it takes to complete the project, but when ​it​ hire​s​ an employee, ​it immediately add​s​ to ​its fixed expenses. Searching for and training a new associate (particularly a junior-level associate) is time-consuming. ​A firm​ might be busy enough to benefit from project-based outsourcing, but not busy enough to not support another employee.​ A firm’s needs might be temporary: perhaps an associate is out on family leave, ​or a spate of court-ordered deadlines aren’t giving the firm’s lawyers enough breathing room.

Finally, some lawyers enjoy some aspects of practice more than others. A lawyer who thrives on interpersonal contact might love client counseling, taking and defending depositions, and doing trial work, but not be enamored of brief-writing. There’s nothing wrong with hiring a freelance lawyer to do work that doesn’t excite you. And a lawyer who recognizes that he or she isn’t a particularly strong brief-writer (for example) does the client a service by working with a freelance lawyer who’s skilled in that area. ​

Q. Freelance lawyering is also sometimes regarded as “woman’s work” — meaning that it tends to attract women because of flexibility so that they can spend time with their children. Is freelancing a benefit only for parents — and are there men who freelance as well as women?

A. ​In my experience, about 65%–75% of freelance lawyers are women. However, the notion that freelance lawyering is “woman’s work” sticks in my craw.​ ​Freelance lawyering is for any ​lawyer​ — ​male or female​​​ — looking for the flexibility ​​that comes with working for yourself. In fact, of all the lawyers who have to date applied to NCN, only one​ — a man​ — said he was interested solely in legal research and writing projects because he needs to be available for his children.​

Q. In my experience, I’ve observed that one of a lawyer’s greatest concerns in hiring a freelance lawyer is that he or she doesn’t perform — leaving the lawyer to pull an all-nighter to submit a filing that the freelancer was supposed to handle. What are some ways that a lawyer can guard against this outcome? Does Now Counsel Network have any mechanism to address this problem?

A.​ One way to guard against that kind of bad experience is to do adequate due diligence before hiring a freelance lawyer. Get recommendations from your colleagues. Don’t hire the cheapest freelance lawyer out there just to save a buck: good freelance lawyers know the value of the services they provide to the busy lawyers who hire them, and charge appropriately. This isn’t a problem, because all of the bar associations ​but one ​that have addressed the issue (including, most notably, the ABA) have determined that a lawyer may add a surcharge to a freelance lawyer’s fees — in other words, make a profit on​ ​the freelance lawyer’s​ ​work — as long as the total charges to the client are reasonable​. (The exception is Texas.)

Now Counsel ​Network does much of the initial due diligence legwork by confirming​ applicants’ registration and disciplinary status, review​ing​ a writing sample and ​interviewing​ three references before inviting an applicant to join the network​.​

Another way to guard against unwelcome surprises is to​ ​​require the​ freelance​ lawyer ​to provide​ ​regular progress reports​ ​(or even in-progress drafts)​ during the course of a project. Once you’ve built a relationship with a reliable freelance lawyer, you can reduce or eliminate this requirement.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on the future of freelancing?

A.​ ​Despite what many see as a continued focus, in both the general and legal media, on BigLaw, solo and small firm practice are as popular as ever, and together they continue to employ the majority of the country’s lawyers. This, combined with the broad availability of online legal research resources and collaboration tools and the fact that a freelance lawyer​ generally​ need not be admitted in the jurisdiction where the matter ​he or she is hired to work on ​is venued​, means that th​e​ pool of potential clients for ​freelance lawyers is, for all practical purposes, nearly unlimited. The growth of freelance lawyering as a profession is a boon to solos and small firms that want to run lean, profitable businesses.


Carolyn Elefant has been blogging about solo and small firm practice at MyShingle.comsince 2002 and operated her firm, the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant PLLC, even longer than that. She’s also authored a bunch of books on topics like starting a law practicesocial media, and 21st century lawyer representation agreements (affiliate links). If you’re really that interested in learning more about Carolyn, just Google her. The Internet never lies, right? You can contact Carolyn by email at elefant@myshingle.comor follow her on Twitter at @carolynelefant.