Temporary Attorneys
 February 2, 2005

For years temp agencies have been trying to sell law firms on the use of temporary attorneys. Typically temporary attorneys are employees of the agency and are provided to the law firm on an hourly rate basis. Initially concerns centered on issue of malpractice risk, conflict of interest, and whether the nature of the attorney’s engagement needed to be disclosed to clients. But the real question was whether law firms could charge a premium for the temporary lawyers time over their cost. Some temporary agencies suggest that law firms charge their normal hourly rates for the temporary associates in the same manner as they would if they employed the attorneys. Many ethicists, however, argue that the Code of Professional Responsibility requires that temporary attorneys be charged as a disbursement at their exact cost unless there is explicit agreement with the client for some other basis for billing.

For most law firms, sorting this all out presents more risk than reward and they have steered away from temporary attorneys. But recently some corporate legal departments smell savings and are requiring outside counsel to use temporary attorneys for document review and similar repetitive tasks. According to the Connecticut Law Tribune Wilmington, Delaware based DuPont saves $10 million a year by requiring their outside counsel to use temporary attorneys when appropriate.

If the use of temporary attorneys becomes a real trend among corporate clients, the result could represent a significant change in the professional staff HR function.