How To Become A Freelance Lawyer - JD Careers Out There

Join JD Careers Out There for access to the full version of this transcript plus the career guidance video library & transcripts. Access is also included when you work with me for career coaching.

Luber: Hey everyone – today on JD Careers Out There we’re exploring the growing trend of being a freelance attorney so stick around. [theme song]

Alright, as you might already know, at JDCOT, we help you find and succeed in fulfilling careers using a law degree by exploring career paths both in and out of law.

I’m your host Marc Luber, the founder of JDCOT. I’ve always used my law degree to work in alternative careers for lawyers – first in the music industry and then as a legal recruiter. I’ve been helping lawyers with their careers since 2003 and I’m excited for the opportunity to help you.

Today’s guest is patent lawyer Leila Kanani, who has her own practice in Chicago and she’s also the founder of the Intermix Legal Group, which provides freelance attorneys to law firms and corporations in need of having more hands on deck.

Leila, welcome to JDCOT!

Leila Kanani: Thank you for having me.

Luber: Leila, I’m going to ask you to tell us all about this growing trend of freelance lawyering and I’m going to ask about who makes the right fit for this and how to break in to being a freelance lawyer and take advantage of the trend. But first I’d love if we could start with this – if you could tell us, what is a freelance attorney?

Leila Kanani: Well, a freelance attorney is pretty much a contract attorney that is very experienced.

And the term has been used more often in the past couple of years because so many experienced attorneys work freelancing and the term ‘contract attorney’ is usually associated with attorneys that do document review or work that’s not as substantive, so that’s how the term “freelance attorney” came about.

So basically, it’s a contract attorney, a temporary attorney that does legal services for law firms and legal departments.

Luber: OK, excellent. So let’s dig in deeper to who makes the right fit for this. Who should even consider being a freelance lawyer?

Leila Kanani: The best fit for a freelance attorney is someone that’s very experienced – I would say at least four years of experience, and they may either be a solo practitioner or they could have been at a big law firm or in-house somewhere and they decided that they don’t want to work the hours that they were working previously.

So those are the best candidates for freelance lawyering.

It’s so great because you can choose your own hours, choose your own projects, so it’s a perfect fit for them.

Luber: I want to dig in deeper into that. Now you have a company called Intermix where you are matching freelance lawyers to work opportunities?

Leila Kanani: Yes, exactly. So we have freelance attorneys that work with us. We handle all the administrative backend and all the marketing for them, and then law firms and corporate legal departments contact us to match them up with one or more of these attorneys.

Luber: Interesting. In the full interview, you’ll all hear lots more from Leila about being a freelance lawyer and how you can take advantage of this growing trend.

You’ll want to join the JDCOT membership for access to the full, in-depth career interviews & transcripts that will help you find and land a career that fits you. Check out what people have to say about JDCOT by clicking here.

Thanks again for watching everybody. I’m Marc Luber and I’ll see ya soon.

[theme song]

©2016 Careers Out There