Over the life of a case, when you reach the point of needing to prepare a brief of some sort — whether it’s a settlement conference brief, a pre-trial brief, a reply brief to a motion, or even an appellate brief — you’re at the phase of litigation where you’ve lived this case for a long time.
And it can be to your benefit (and the benefit of the client) to collaborate with another attorney to help draft that brief. They can come at it with a fresh set of eyes and new legal theories because they haven’t been eating, living, and breathing this case for months (or years) like you have.
The question is: Where do you find talented freelance attorneys to collaborate with and help boost your client’s position in the brief?
In this post, we’ll answer that and cover:
- How LAWCLERK, our freelance lawyer marketplace, can connect you with the best possible legal brief writing talent.
- Actual examples of legal brief writing projects that attorneys have posted on our marketplace, including the description of the Project, how much it cost, and the comment/rating they left for the freelance lawyer (to give you ideas and inspiration for your own practice).
Note: We help busy attorneys get an extra set of hands via our nationwide marketplace of over 3,500 incredibly talented freelance lawyers (aka virtual associates) with experience levels in almost every conceivable area of law. Learn more and sign up here.
Advantages of Delegating Legal Brief Writing Work to Attorneys on Our Marketplace
At LAWCLERK, we have thousands of freelance attorneys with many years of experience standing by — and they want to handle brief writing for you on a freelance basis.
Rather than spending eight hours drafting a brief, you could be spending an hour reviewing and finalizing it.
You then have more time to spend on your highest and best use — such as strategizing about the legal issues in a case, going to court, meeting with your client, and so on.
Additionally, rather than looking at a freelance lawyer as a cost, think of them as a profit center, just like an associate or paralegal.
For example: Let’s say you want to hire someone to draft a reply brief to a motion.
- You post that Project on the LAWCLERK marketplace and set the flat fee rate at $1000.
- You then select the freelance attorney you’d like to work with.
- The freelance lawyer then prepares that reply brief for you and sends you their timecard, which shows 8.5 hours.
- According to the Model Rules and the ABA opinions, you can bill this time back to your client at a reasonable market rate. For this scenario, let’s say the rate in your market is $200 per hour.
- At a rate of $200 per hour for 8.5 hours, that’s $1700 you can bill the client, at a cost to you of only $1000.
That’s a profit of $700 on one Project, not to mention the 8.5 hours you gained — which as we touched on earlier, could be spent on marketing and originating clients, in court, on case strategy, or whatever your highest and best use is to grow your practice and improve your bottom line.
Note: You only pay the flat fee price you set when you post your Project — there is no sign-up fee or subscription cost. (That is, of course, unless you want more consistent help via a subscription.)
Want More Consistent Help? Consider Our Virtual Associate Subscription Program
While our marketplace is a great solution to get occasional, Project-based work done, our customers have told us they wanted a way to more deeply integrate our virtual associates into their firms.
As a result, we launched a Virtual Associate Subscription Program, where you can hire freelance lawyers for a specific amount of monthly hours of help (not just the occasional Project).
To get started with the Virtual Associate Subscription Program, you provide us with some simple information. You identify the skill-set you’re looking for along with the experience level of your ideal virtual associate.
You select the price point that best fits your firm and also the number of hours of help you need each month.
Then, our team will source the perfect candidate for you from our pool of over 3,500 virtual associates.
You can interview the top candidates via phone or video chat, and select the virtual associate who is perfect for your firm. That attorney can then immediately get to work, learn your style, and deeply integrate into your practice. And they don’t have fixed overhead costs tied to them, unlike a traditional, in-office associate.
Interested in learning more specifics about our Virtual Associate Subscription Program, and how it can boost your law firm’s profitability?
Read our article: In-Depth Look at How the LAWCLERK Virtual Associate Subscription Program Works
Example Freelance Lawyer: Fabio Arcila
Below are details about just one of the many talented freelance attorneys on LAWCLERK who excel at legal brief writing (to give you an idea of the credentials, expertise, and experience level you can expect when freelance lawyers apply to a Project you post).
Here are a few highlights about Fabio Arcila:
- He has completed more than 20 complex projects on LAWCLERK, either meeting or exceeding expectations on all of them.
- He has 25 years of top-level litigation experience (meaning federal trial and appellate clerkships, Big Law, and pro bono U.S. Supreme Court briefs), including appellate litigation, civil procedure, discovery, dispositive motion practice, pleading, evidence, and federal courts.
- He primarily works on appellate brief projects, especially complex motions and oppositions, and his specializations include surveillance and privacy law, the Fourth Amendment, and administrative law.
- He attended the University of California Berkeley School of Law, and the University of Michigan, where he graduated with distinction.
- Fabio is a resource for experienced lawyers who want to expand their service offerings without requiring much supervision. He’s also a resource for junior attorneys not far removed from law school who can benefit from greater expertise and experience.
Examples of Legal Brief Writing Projects by Practice Area
For examples of the kinds of brief writing projects the freelance attorneys on LAWCLERK can complete for you, below we share real examples of projects that have been done via our platform (categorized by practice area).
We include the Project Description and Project Details as listed on LAWCLERK, and you can see the hiring attorney’s comments about how well the Project was completed by the freelancer.
Note: The examples below are just a small sampling of the kinds of work you can get help with on our marketplace. For more ideas of work you can delegate to freelance lawyers (i.e. legal research, discovery, and more) visit the “Sample Projects by Area of Law” section of our Attorney Resources Page.
Below, we cover these areas:
- Appellate
- Bankruptcy
- Criminal
- Employment, Labor, and Education
- Family Law
- Immigration
- Intellectual Property
- Litigation
- Personal Injury
- Tax
Appellate (see more examples)
Bankruptcy (see more examples)
Criminal (see more examples)
Employment, Labor, and Education (see more examples)
Family Law
Immigration (see more examples)
Intellectual Property (see more examples)
Litigation (see more examples)
Personal Injury (see more examples)
Tax (see more examples)
Note: Interested in trying LAWCLERK by posting your first Project and getting an extra set of hands from a talented brief writer? We don’t have signup fees or monthly fees, so you only need to pay per Project, making LAWCLERK a flexible, affordable way to get the help you need, when you need it. Learn more and sign up here.
