Here’s an interesting article on the rise of contract attorneys from Gina Passarella of the Legal Intelligencer. I find it a little funny how one consultant in the states there has been a “huge upswing” in the contract attorney market. I wonder why that is (sarcasm)?
In an era when cost predictability reigns supreme, corporate law departments are increasingly using project- or contract-based attorneys to help handle an increased workload on a shrunken budget…
Project attorneys are a more viable answer to the budget problem in part because there are so many skilled lawyers out of work due to layoffs at AmLaw 200 firms and the consolidation of legal departments prior to the economic downturn, which led to cuts in those departments as well, [James] LaRosa [of JuriStaff] said…
I was also shocked to read this line.
As law firms see their clients turn to contract attorneys, the firms are too. LaRosa said he is seeing more law firms hiring project-based lawyers in an effort to show their clients that “they get it.”
Really? I thought it was the law firms that started the contract attorney trend, only to be adopted by their clients for cost measures. Good article nonetheless, and I hope like hell Gina is right in reporting that permanent hiring is rebounding as well.
