These temp lawyers are top-notch, a new firm in Boston promises
Contract arrangement fosters work-family balance, flexible hours
In the law firm world, "contract attorney" is often a disparaging term - a fancy name for recent law school graduates who are desperate for work or older lawyers lacking the credentials to land full-time positions.
Today, Boston becomes the first New England location for a company that aims to defy that stereotype.
Counsel On Call bills itself as part of a new breed of legal temp agencies that hire only experienced, top-quality attorneys, whom it matches with companies, law firms, and corporate legal departments that need them for short-term projects.
According to the Nashville-based business, its lawyers typically have at least three years of experience at a large law firm or an in-house legal department, attended a top-50 law school, and graduated in the top 30 percent of their class.
It also markets itself as an attractive alternative for high-performing attorneys burned out by the frenzied pace of big-firm life, craving work-family balance, or wanting a more flexible schedule.
"The knock on this industry has always been that a contract attorney is someone who couldn't get a job anywhere," said Chad Schmidt, a spokesman for Counsel On Call, which also has offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, and Memphis. "But that's been completely reversed.
"There are a lot of lawyers out there who don't want to work at a firm or in a corporate legal department on a 70-hours-a-week basis, so they're looking for a different way to do it."
The Boston office will be headed by Nancy B. Reiner, a longtime former partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels known for her work on a historic lawsuit against the tobacco industry that resulted in an $8.3 billion settlement for the state.
Counsel On Call typically bills its clients $50 to $125 an hour, substantially less than what most large corporate law firms charge.
It pays its lawyers, who receive benefits, between about $35 and $85 an hour.
Lawyers usually work on-site at the client company or at the company's law firm, but they sometimes work from their homes, from another remote site, or at a Counsel On Call office. Projects can last from a few days to several months, or longer.
Temporary legal work frequently involves discovery, the often-tedious process of poring over massive amounts of paperwork and electronic data for use in litigation. But Counsel On Call says only 20 percent of its projects involve that kind of document review.
Its lawyers also work on sophisticated financial transactions, technology licensing agreements, complex litigation, and other more intellectually engaging work, the company says.
And while many temporary agencies are primarily havens for working mothers who need flexible schedules, Counsel On Call - whose president, Jane H. Allen, founded the company eight years ago so she and other female lawyers could continue practicing law after they had children - says its lawyers come from diverse backgrounds.
"It's not just moms or dads," Reiner said.
"It's people who want to have other options in their life besides law, or who have left bigger firms because they're tired of the 24-7 workload and stress of the partnership track."
That marketing pitch resonated with Sara Greenberg, one of the first lawyers hired by Counsel On Call's Boston office. A Pepperell resident, she endures a two-hour one-way commute to Boston, where she has been working for 20 years. She wants a predictable schedule so she can catch a late-afternoon train home.
"It's wonderful to be able to have this flexibility," said Greenberg, 54, who has been practicing law for 30 years at government agencies and private firms.
"I know I can leave work at 4 p.m. and have dinner at home with my 10-year-old daughter, or I can leave early one day and make up the time the next day.
"The concept of flexibility really works for me as a commuter. And I'm having a life."
Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.
