Telecommuting Increasingly, as we recruit senior administrative managers for law firms, the subject of telecommuting is raised at some point in the interview process. The issue came into sharp definition for us recently when the ideal candidate for a director position with a large national law firm did not want to move his family to the firm’s headquarters city. The candidate proposed that, since the job required extensive travel anyway, he telecommute. He pointed out that the two people to whom he reported (the Executive Director and the Managing Partner) were both located in firm offices other than the headquarters office and it should not make any difference where he worked.
Most law firms, however, view telecommuting as a temporary arrangement, either to accommodate a personal leave of absence or as an occasional break from commuting. But if current trends continue, telecommuting as a permanent work arrangement will become a significant HR issue for law firms in the next couple of years. It is our observation that many of the problems that occur as a result of telecommunication result from a lack of predetermined policies and standards and the absence of a formal agreement between the telecommuter and the law firm.
This is such a front burner issue for us in recruiting that we have developed a sample telecommuting policy and agreement for use by our clients. If you would like a copy, simply send us an e-mail.
Summer Associate Programs Become Strategic Traditionally law firms used summer programs as a means of finding the best talent available. The function was basically to recruit, select and hire, sorting out what the firm did with the people later. This year, “firms are definitely hiring to staff projects and staff work,” according to the Executive Director of NALP. He says that “firms are getting more strategic in their hiring.” This means that many summer associates will work on a specific matter and then be hired to fill a specific role on that same or a similar matter upon graduation. Many of our clients tell us that the economy continues to be too uncertain to hire in anticipation of need and hope the work will be there two years down the road.
Early results from recruitment programs seem to show that summer offers are up this year but acceptance levels are down slightly. The net result will probably be summer class at about the same size as last year. As benchmarks, Skadden Arps will have 184 summer associates this year compared to 164 last year and Latham & Watkins will have 216 summer associates compared to 164 in 2004. On the other hand Morrison & Foerster will have 95 students in its summer program compared to 88 last year and King & Spaulding has 118 acceptances, slightly less than its 126 summer associates in 2004.
Correlation Between Malpractice Risk and Legal Administrators? General Electric Insurance Solutions has announced that it is offering up to a 7½% premium credit on professional liability insurance if a law firm has a professional legal administrator.
Temporary Attorneys 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.
Legal Resource Group LLC specializes in serving the executive and administrative recruiting needs of law firms. We maintain the largest data base of law firm executive and Administrative staff in the world. This allows us to immediately identify the very best candidates. We find the best people, complete searches faster and have extremely reasonable fees. For further information, visit our website at www.LRGLLC.com , contact us by e-mail at inquiries@LRGLLC.com or by phone at 1-800-688-4147.
