Temporary relief: how to save money by retaining short-term help from lawyers and paralegals.

The use of temporary attorneys and paralegals is becoming increasingly popular with corporate law departments and law firms looking to supplement their staff without making a long-term hiring commitment. Companies and law firms retaining temporary help, however, need to properly prepare themselves and the temps in order to make the arrangement a successful one.

Consider the following two examples of where temporary help was particularly helpful:

A Fortune 500 company files a lawsuit against over 40 defendants. The litigation involves millions of documents located in five states. The hundreds of lawyers and paralegals required to analyze, digest and index these documents makes it impossible for the company's legal department or its outside law firm to staff the project with existing personnel.

A mid-level labor attorney takes a four-month leave of absence from his law firm. The law firm needs to fill his position until the associate returns but does not want to hire another associate for what is only a short term need.

These two scenarios highlight a rapidly growing trend -- the use of legal professionals to fill the temporary needs for qualified legal personnel in law firms and corporations. Temporary legal professionals are just one category of professionals who have gone the "temp" route. The range of professionals includes accountants, doctors, nurses and computer programmers.

In the past, the use of "temps" was synonymous with "clerical." For over 50 years companies have employed the services of temporary secretaries, filing clerks, etc., to meet the temporary administrative needs of a corporation. However, a trend that has had its genesis in the late 1980s is growing fast -- a new breed of professionals with specialized skills and years of experience offered at reasonable hourly rates to clients with sophisticated and industry specific needs.

In the legal field, the value of having attorneys and paralegals working as temporaries is significant. Not only do they provide an efficient way to meet peak work cycles, but they provide corporate legal departments and law firms with tremendous flexibility to implement cost effective ways to staff on an "as needed basis." Equally important, the hourly rates for these temporary professionals averages 65% less than their law firm counterparts.

The pool of attorneys and paralegals who work on a project basis has increased substantially within the last several years. The attorneys who work on a temporary basis include graduates from the top law schools who have worked for prestigious law firms in every substantive area of the law. Temporary paralegals are often of an equally high caliber.

Legal "temp" professionals can work for a day, a week or a year. Hiring these professionals is advantageous to the legal department because it allows the department to obtain the expertise or assistance it requires on an as needed basis, rather than referring the matter to an outside law firm or hiring a permanent employee where only temporary help is needed. Likewise, a law firm can benefit from hiring qualified legal professionals to meet their peak work cycles or special projects.

Hiring an attorney or paralegal or groups of these legal professionals on a temporary basis is often helpful in meeting the demands of a document intensive litigation case or corporate project such as a merger or acquisition. Temps can also fill short-term vacancies created by leaves of absence such as vacations, maternity or illness. And, hiring a temp is a good way to supplement existing staff and have a "look-see" at a potential regular employee.

Hiring qualified legal temporaries in these settings offers some significant benefits:

Economy: The corporation or law firm pays only for the hours billed. There is no added cost for employee benefits. Such benefits have been calculated to constitute up to 40% of an employee's annual compensation.

Flexibility: The corporation or law firm can obtain quality legal assistance to help with temporary staffing problems.

Risk Management: The corporation or law firm can assess an individual's skills on a project before extending an offer of regular employment.

Expertise: The corporation or law firm can retain the services of an attorney who has experience outside their respective expertise.

BUDGETING FOR FLEXIBLE STAFFING

The corporation or law firm accounting or human resource department should establish a budget that includes the use of professional legal temporaries. The temporary budget can be calculated by projecting the number of hours needed for each special project and then multiply these hours by the hourly rate of the individuals with the appropriate skill levels. A list of these hourly rates can be obtained from a legal temporary agency. Expenditures can then be allocated by monthly usage of each skill level, tied to anticipated fluctuations in work volume. A reserve can also be set for unexpected projects.

Creating a budget for temporary services and working within the budget can help to manage time, money and resources more efficiently. If a law firm or corporation has hired temporary attorneys and/or paralegals in the past, it can prepare a budget by collecting time sheets and billing statements and then analyzing them. What projects used these professionals most often and why were they needed? What level of experience, what types of skills, and what kinds of tasks did they perform? If temporaries have not been used in the past, estimates on future used can be projected and then the estimate can be compared against actual use. As the months pass, a designated individual can log the actual costs and this information can then be used to help forecast the temporary legal staff budget more accurately.

USING A TEMPORARY PLACEMENT AGENCY

If a corporate legal department or law firm wants to hire a temporary attorney and/or paralegal, it must decide whether to hire that individual or individuals directly or use a temporary agency. If the decision is to retain the services of a temporary legal placement agency, the question is what agency to use? It is generally not advisable to use a clerical or general temporary agency when hiring attorneys or paralegals on a temporary basis. The criteria for selecting clerical help is vastly different than in selecting legal professionals. It is preferable to choose an agency that specializes in the areas of expertise that you require. The agency should have on their staff experienced attorneys and paralegals who can provide you with not only the most qualified professionals, but expertise on how to handle your project or projects.

It is also important to find ways to keep temporary lawyers and paralegals motivated. For example, large scale document production projects are not glamorous or intellectually challenging projects, but they are critical to the success of a case. It is important for all the parties involved to keep the temporary attorneys and/or paralegals motivated and committed.

In choosing a temporary legal agency, the legal department or human resource department can evaluate the caliber of the temporary agency by asking some key questions:

* Does the agency screen the candidates through a personal interview before submitting their resume to the client?

* Are the agency counselors experienced attorneys and paralegals able to understand the client's project?

* Does the agency conduct reference checks and academic verifications of its candidates?

* Does the agency have experience in handling large number of temporaries in a single project?

MANAGING THE TEMPORARY LEGAL STAFF

The individuals who comprise a company's work force are that companies most important asset. The level of productivity, creativity, commitment and enthusiasm they put into their work is crucial in determining a company's success. This adage is true whether the employee is part of the regular or temporary work force. Whether you hire a single attorney or paralegal on a temporary project, or a group of twenty, it is important to treat these temporaries as a valued addition to the legal team. A few simple courtesies will help these individuals work more efficiently and productively:

* Conduct a tour of the office, pointing out rest rooms, water fountains, library, record department, word processing department and other areas that are important to the comfort of the temporary and the project.

* Show the temps how to use of telephones, E-mail, fax or other technology that has special features and will be used as part of the project.

* Outline office rules such as time for lunch, parking use of the telephone, etc.

* Provide a list of important names including titles, telephone numbers and extensions.

* Introduce the temporary to office personnel. Do not forget to introduce them to the receptionist and in-house messenger.

* Outline all work procedures in simple language and be available to answer questions or give them the names of several individuals who will be able to help them.

* If special discretion and confidential handling of company materials is required, emphasize this to the temporary.

* Outline the expectations of the job. The supervisor should give the temporary an estimate of expected daily and weekly output; this will help both gauge the success of the project.

* Periodically review the temporary's work to ensure it is meeting expectations.

* Include the temporary employees in appropriate meetings or company events, especially if they are on a long-term assignment.

These simple procedures will have a lasting, positive effect on the temporary work force.

Rose D. Ors, a graduate of the University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall), is President of Project Professionals, Inc., a nationwide temporary legal placement firm based in Culver City.