What Are Temp Legal Jobs?
Temporary legal jobs are, as the name suggests, positions that are, by design, temporary and short term. They have a specific and narrow shelf life. A firm will, for example, need a temporary lawyer for three months to cover for an attorney on parental or medical leave, or a temporary hearing specialist or contract administrator for six months to assist with the increase in work. There is also the possibility of being hired or laid off at the end of the assignment, depending on the recessionary pressures on the firm. Thankfully, permanent jobs are becoming available, although slowly and at an unequal pace across the country.
Temp legal positions are distinct from permanent legal jobs in many ways. The most obvious differentiation is the expiration date on the temp position itself. It is not unusual for a permanent attorney position to carry with it a two (2) to three (3) year expected work/hire timeline. In contrast, a temp job will frequently be for a specific and defined period.
How does temporary work differ from contract placement? The difference is that the temp agency is the employer. The temp agency is your paycheck issuing authority. Your assignment is a function of that agency’s contract with the firm and the scope of that assignment.
Temp legal positions have become the norm. Firms are hiring, but many times only on a temp basis . Sometimes temp work leads to a full time/benefit package offer. Often it does not. This temp to hire balance has become a commonly accepted solution to a large percentage of today’s legal hiring.
Temp legal jobs offer a good opportunity to test the waters. If you have not recently danced with a large firm, a temp assignment will allow you to understand the current situation: successful temp attorneys are numerous. Successful non-temp attorneys are also numerous. Temp to hire transition struggles are very common. But even if they are not, the salary is often tipped toward temp, but the benefits flow toward permanent. Some working spouses may value the extras associated with the permanent positions. The need to manage expectations on both sides can become an issue.
Temp to hire issues continue because firms are hiring quickly. Firms are more concerned with getting someone in the door than the impact of a short-term position on the attorney. If the temp attorney decides to move to a permanent position, that is the temp attorney’s decision. On the other hand, the temp attorney needs to be mindful of how the permanent attorney views that decision. If the temp attorney is unwittingly the competition for a permanent position, will permanent attorneys favor their own because they see them as competitors – as temp-to-hire, temp rental units?
Advantages of Temp Legal Work
Temporary legal positions come with a wide range of benefits. Consider the following:
Flexibility: When you accept temporary legal work, you can be flexible in your schedule. Many temp assignments allow you to set the hours for when you are willing to work instead of being told to be at the office by 8:00 a.m.
Diverse Experience: Every assignment will give you the opportunity to learn new skills and hone existing skills, all while gaining experience working at different firms. When interviewing for future employment, nothing creates a better impression than a resume with a variety of temp assignments showing that you are adaptable and willing to work hard.
Networking Opportunities: Taking temporary legal work is a great opportunity to meet potential contacts who can help you find your next permanent position. A temping agency can assist you greatly in continuing to network once your current position is finished.
Pathway to Permanent Employment: Taking a temporary legal position may lead to a permanent position with the same firm or another firm. After taking a temp assignment, many firms will extend an offer for permanent employment.
Categories of Temporary Legal Positions
Temp legal jobs take a number of different forms, with the most common including paralegal work, document review, legal assistant work and contract attorney jobs. There are temp legal opportunities in just about any sector of the legal arena, with law firms and corporate legal departments affording many of the opportunities. Temp assignments may be short-term or long-term, and may accommodate a variety of schedules—from full-time to part-time, and everything in between.
Temp paralegals and temp legal assistants are in demand to perform a variety of duties to support litigation, intellectual property, labor and employment, and practice groups. Document review attorneys are sought by law firms and corporate legal departments to sift through and annotate hundreds of thousands of documents in preparation for litigation efforts. Contract lawyers are hired on a temporary basis to handle overflow from the permanent legal staff.
Finding Temporary Legal Work
It is suggested that those looking for temporary legal work utilize the resources of a number of staffing agencies. If you are using staffing agencies, the goal is to get on every temporary list that they have. The staffing agencies send out a number of email blasts looking for temps on different projects (document review projects, coding projects, research projects and so on).
Many of these blasts go out to all of their temps. There are literally hundreds of lawyers available to work on a regular basis. If you are a lawyer that works on document review projects you are a dime a dozen. By getting onto a number of staffing agency lists you increase your chances of also being notified about projects where the staffing agency is looking for more specialized skills.
If a law firm is looking for lawyers with a certain skill set and a staffing agency only sends out an email blast to its lawyers who do have the prerequisite skills, you now have an advantage over those lawyers who are working with only one staffing agency. If you are a lawyer trying to get work as an attorney with experience in a specific area of law, this is particularly true.
I strongly suggest that staffing agencies maintain a social media presence. Staffing agencies are able to reach their staff through social media, so awareness of the jobs available and the status of the job market is immediate.
Of course, not all staffing agency are alike. Some are slower than others to obtain work for their temps. Some agencies provide better service to their temps than others. Some job postings tend to be better or are posted faster than others. I tend to favor staffing agencies that update their internet postings and websites regularly. The time of day they post jobs and how I am contacted for work can also affect my opinion of a staffing agency.
It is also helpful if temp agencies maximize the use of technology in their recruiting process. For example, if they use online forms that make it easy for employing attorneys to find available candidates and reduce the use of paper. If they use a spreadsheet of potential candidates it can be helpful as well. If a staffing agency maintains an up-to-date social media presence and utilizes their website then they will be able to keep their temps informed of the latest information concerning the job market.
Qualifications for Temporary Legal Employment
When considering an opportunity in temporary legal employment, the most important skill an attorney must bring to the table is the ability to adapt. A significant portion of an attorney’s job is already about adapting to changes – and that’s just clients, deadlines and is the case ever really done? Holding onto that core skill will not only help an attorney to complete an assignment , it will foster further opportunities. Attorneys who can learn quickly on their feet and solve problems under pressure will never be without a job.
The level of legal knowledge required for a temporary legal job varies. A paralegal working as a project manager for a massive document review is very different from an e-discovery specialist who must have the technical and legal acumen to run that type of operation. A contract attorney reviewing documents for privilege is yet another thing. Some temp jobs will have a strict requirement while others may be more vague than the job description specifies. Applicants should keep that in mind when approaching a temporary agency – communicate what resources are available rather than scrambling to impress them with what you think they want to hear.
Technical skills also vary widely for temp jobs. Some jobs will require specific certifications such as Westlaw. Others may not require any knowledge of legal applications or research databases at all. For these positions, the adaptability demand is even greater. If an attorney is familiar with one program, it shouldn’t be hard to learn another. Temporary agencies can be a valuable resource to help an attorney navigate a different program, how to set up certain features and how to solve those pesky problems that some systems seem to create.
Challenges of Temp Legal Positions
Working temporary legal jobs is not without its drawbacks. The most significant challenges for those in temp legal work include:
Job Security
For most, the most difficult aspect of working a temporary position is that there is no long-term stability in the position. Most temporary positions are for a specified term of employment or based on the duration of a specified project within an organization. This constant uncertainty can lead to stress and anxiety.
Inconsistent Income
Temporary professionals often have inconsistent pay days, from week-to-week or month-to-month. This can create challenges when they attempt to secure financing for large purchases like cars or homes, because lenders versus irregular income as a sign of unpredictability and risk.
Quick Adaptation to New Environment
Having to adjust to new workplace environments on a regular basis can be worn down over time. It can be difficult to find housing near your employer (if your work requires you to be "on-site") — especially if your housing needs require short-term leases. This is one of the primary reasons why temp professionals utilise staffing agencies, which take care of both your client and housing arrangements.
Temporary Staffing Agencies
The best way to avoid many of these problems is to work through a temporary staffing agency that specializes in placing legal professionals. These experts have strong connections to law firms and corporations, giving them access to top jobs as soon as they open up. They are also able to connect you to opportunities based on your salary requirements, geographic location and preferred work situation.
Success Tips for Temp Legal Work
Providing value to the employer in a challenging temporary role is an important balance to achieve. There are numerous ways to do this effectively, and it involves some effort and due diligence on your part. The following tips should be quite helpful in this respect:
· Building a professional reputation based on the quality of your work and your attitude is critical, and you can succeed in achieving this goal. The best key to success in temp legal work is the ability to quickly analyze information, summarize it succinctly , and address questions and concerns in a professional manner. Legal expertise and experience will assist you in achieving this goal.
· While pursuing temporary work in this field, continue taking CLE courses or attend relevant webinars, and consider taking on pro bono work if time allows. This will help expand your network and keep you and your skills fresh.
· As with any other job, ensuring that you succeed professionally in temp legal work requires that you are able to establish a balance between your work and your personal life.
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