So, the firm contacted two area agencies that provide contract attorneys for help, the Wallace Law Registry and Assigned Counsel. Mark S. Zamsky, managing director of Wallace's Philadelphia office, said he was given 48 hours to come up with a specific list of attorneys experienced in commercial litigation, from top law schools, with stable resumes and good credentials. Since then, the firm has expanded its requests to also included contract attorneys qualified for environmental, insurance coverage and transactional work, Dunham said. It's really an exceptional group. Ebbs and Flows Contract staffing is becoming an increasingly popular way of dealing with the ebbs and flows of the legal practice, Zamsky said.
Law firms can no longer staff to peak.
Contract professionals may be a particular useful tool for helping smaller firms compete with larger ones, Dunham said. You don't want to hire people to sit on the bench. In addition to being economically wise, using contract attorneys for peak loads helps avoid the moral problems a firm undergoes when it has to layoff staff, Dunham said. Although for years attorneys avoided using temporary attorneys for fear of negative reactions from clients, it has now become a selling point, those in the industry say. As clients become increasingly more sensitive to price, they are demanding more of a say in how law firms work on and staff matters, Zamsky said.