How to Become a Freelance Lawyer: Rates, Contracts, Legal Ethics and More

Note: This is not for CLE. Part of the free Career Development Series, a monthly webinar series featuring practical tips from legal career experts. Live webinars are free and open to the public. The recorded program and materials are exclusively for ABA members.

Description

Attorneys seeking career flexibility, the elusive “career/life balance,” or a variety of income sources often consider handling freelance legal projects for other law firms. This program will address starting a freelance legal practice, including setting rates, practical tips, pitfalls to avoid, and ethics issues.

Speaker

Erin Clary Giglia, Co-Owner/Founder, Montage Legal Group, LLC

Erin practiced for eight years before she co-founded Montage Legal Group in 2009. Montage is a network of freelance attorneys who opted out of the traditional law firm model in favor of career flexibility. While at Snell & Wilmer, LLP she defended entertainment venues and product manufacturers in product liability, premises liability, environmental and commercial litigation. She also practiced complex commercial litigation at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. After co-founding Montage, Erin was Of Counsel at Hewitt Wolensky LLP (now merged with Arent Fox) from 2010-2014. 

Erin is a frequent writer and speaker on legal outsourcing, work-life balance, women in law, networking, legal ethics and contract attorneys and has been featured in several media outlets. She has been recognized as one of OC Metro Magazine’s 2011 Top 40 under 40, and was honored with Enterprising Women Magazine’s 2014 Enterprising Women of the Year Award. In 2014, Erin and Montage Legal Group were featured on Forbes.com in an article titled “How Two Stay-at-Home Moms Are Changing the Legal Industry.” In 2015, Erin and Montage were featured in “Disruptive Innovation: New Models of Legal Practice” by UC Hastings Work Life Law Center.  You can read an article written by Erin and her Montage co-founder, Laurie Rowen, on how growing firms can take advantage of freelance attorneys and Of Counsel positions:  Stay Ethical While Growing  Your Firm (Law Practice Today, July 14, 2017)

 Video and Materials