Startup development has risen in recent years, and the majority of these new enterprises need legal counsel to get their endeavour off the ground. When looking for an attorney online, you will find a plethora of possibilities, including huge law companies, small law firms, specialty law firms, online legal markets, and freelance lawyers. While businesses may be tempted to engage a legal company, freelance lawyers may provide a number of benefits over firms, especially for small enterprises and startups.
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Client Service that is attentive
Every client is important to a freelance attorney, whether you are a solitary entrepreneur or a major corporation. In a huge enterprise where major companies control time and resources, a small company may be disregarded. Every company provides a significant portion of the customer base for a freelance attorney. This guarantees that your work does not slip through the gaps, which is all too often in giant corporations.
Indeed, the most prevalent complaint lodged by business customers against major legal firms is a lack of response. A small company collaborating with a big organisation should anticipate even less communication. A phone contact with a small customer is typically seen as an annoyance by an overworked firm attorney on the clock to satisfy billing obligations. In contrast, independent lawyers may be more responsive and will spend more time on the phone with clients or responding to their emails.
Quality for the Money
Many people will pay a greater fee for a legal company in the hopes of receiving better-quality services. Unfortunately, this is not often the case for small enterprises. Given the economic constraints of legal firms, work for small clients is likely to be assigned to the least experienced lawyers. Small clientele are often used by legal firms to teach young associates coming out of law school. Furthermore, these young lawyers are taught like factory workers to be very efficient at completing a small scope of work, and they often fail to recognise concerns that more seasoned attorneys would quickly see.
As a result, the true decision for a startup will often be between a freelance legal and a first-year attorney, with the freelance attorney clearly winning. Freelance lawyers often have years of experience working for major law firms. They are able to use the expertise gained from these organisations to deliver outstanding work in a few key areas. Freelance lawyers also broaden their legal competence to address a larger range of legal issues. As a result, they are adaptable enough to cope with innovative legal difficulties that arise often for new enterprises.
An attorney with even 5-10 years of experience in an Intellectual Property law firm, for example, may be good at writing patents in a specific technical field for one or two major corporate customers. However, that same attorney may struggle to determine if another firm should even attempt to secure a patent in the first place, or whether the client should also seek trademark, copyright, or trade secret protection. A typical startup query is, “I have $X in legal budget; what should I spend it on?” A freelance attorney is more able to answer that query, and he or she will earn more money out of it than a company.
Cost-effectiveness
It is less costly to work with a freelance attorney than to hire a large legal company. Firms have enormous overhead expenditures. Their customers pay a premium for opulent offices with panoramic views that are exclusively accessible to their biggest clientele. In contrast, both freelance lawyers and startups strive for pragmatism. There is no need to have meetings in an expensively decorated conference room with city views when a Skype chat would suffice.
Large legal firms may aim to provide several experts under one roof in order to justify their charges. Although this may seem to be the most cost-effective option if your small company need legal experience in several areas, it is generally more cost-effective to engage numerous freelance lawyers in different areas of the law. By operating lean, freelancing lawyers may undercut major firms in price while incurring minimal expense to pass on to customers.
Relationships
Freelance lawyers are available. While a firm would not be afraid to run the billing clock on any phone conversations or emails, a freelance attorney will regard them as a way to build long-term connections with their clients. They will swiftly answer phone calls and react to emails. Because many of their customers are untrained in legal topics, they are skilled at expressing things in as basic or as complex words as necessary.
Firm lawyers lack the time and motivation to develop these intimate ties with small clients. Firm lawyers are bombarded with promises and duties that go above and beyond what they owe to their clients. They were expected to attend trainings, meetings, manage personnel issues, teach younger employees, and do a variety of other tasks. Small customers, who account for a minor portion of their earnings, will, once again, take a second seat to many of these promises. Freelance lawyers, on the other hand, manage smaller businesses and often prioritise all of their customers.
The Bottom Line
Of course, there are certain disadvantages to working as a freelance attorney. Many operate bare-bones enterprises with little or no support workers and are sometimes overburdened with work. However, the law firm structure may be too restrictive for a small company, which risks being left at the bottom of the firm’s to-do list. Overall, freelancing lawyers are the most cost-effective option for small firms with limited legal funds.