LAWCLERK, a legal services marketplace where solo and small-firm attorneys can hire freelance lawyers for short-term projects, has launched a new service targeted at corporate counsel, LAWCLERK for General Counsel.
Like the company’s standard service, LAWCLERK for General Counsel allows corporate counsel to post one-off projects to the LAWCLERK marketplace for short-term help from freelance lawyers. In addition, corporate counsel can build “teams” of freelance lawyers to use as they need them.
To oversee sales and marketing of this new service, LAWCLERK has hired Daniel V. Esposito, a lawyer who has been general counsel to several companies.
The way LAWCLERK works — whether for law firms or corporate counsel — is fairly straightforward. The firm or legal department posts a project description, freelancers apply, and the poster chooses from among the applicants.
The “team” feature allows job posters to designate favored freelancers. At the completion of a project, the poster can mark the freelancer as a member of its “team.” The next time the firm or legal department posts a project, it can choose to post it to the entire LAWCLERK roster or only to a specific member of its team. If the team member is unable to do the project, the poster can reassign the project to another member of its team or post it to the full roster.
LAWCLERK says this new service will help corporate counsel lower their legal spend. It says that freelance lawyers are more cost effective than standard outside counsel, and the legal department is able to set the flat-fee price it wants to pay.
There is no cost to post a project and no obligation to accept any of the freelancers who apply for a project. The poster’s credit card is charged when the poster hires a freelancer. The funds are held by a payment processing company
