With rate pressures and expenses mounting, law firms are looking for new ways to make ends meet. One area that seems to be exploding is the use of contract, or freelance, attorneys. Often, these attorneys are willing to apply their legal training on select projects without making a commitment to a full-time schedule or to a particular firm.

If used correctly, contract attorneys can help attorneys with projects—at lower costs—without a loss in the quality or efficiency demanded by clients. But without the appropriate supervision and controls, contract attorneys can create risks that law firms never considered. To avoid these risks, there are some important things for firms to remember when hiring and using contract attorneys.

The Duty to Supervise

Contract attorneys are attorneys who perform work by contract or agreement for a law firm or attorney. That contract can be an employment agreement making clear that the contract attorney is not an associate and is not on partnership track. It can also be an independent contractor agreement, providing for payment to the contract attorney for the time worked, but without the benefits associated with an employment relationship (presuming that the contract otherwise meets the IRS requirements for an “independent contractor”).

Unless a client contracts directly with a contract attorney, it is the law firm that usually undertakes the attorney-client relationship, giving rise to a direct duty to the client. This relationship carries with it a number of duties, responsibilities and obligations imposed on the law firm with regard to the conduct of the contract attorney.