Many contract lawyers do repeat work for the same several practitioners. Therefore, one method of marketing is to periodically call lawyers for whom previous work has been done to inform them that the contract lawyer is available. Insurance Many contract lawyers do not carry malpractice insurance. This is a personal decision. But sometimes the supervising attorney's insurance policy will cover a contract attorney, especially if the contract attorney does not sign documents, but merely prepares them for signature by one of the firm's insured attorneys.
Some contract attorneys request indemnity agreements from firms with whom they do repeat work.
Most wing it and try to avoid potential problems by not allowing their names on legal documents of any kind. Although there may seem to be a number of negatives to contract lawyering, detriments are balanced by the often humorous or interesting incidents encountered in journeys among many law offices and lawyers. As in the full-time practice of law, the work done by a contract lawyer can be interesting, boring, intellectually stimulating, dull, diverse, repetitive or a combination of all things good and bad. The difference is that the contract attorney can decide with whom to work, which assignment to accept, and when to do it, a luxury not usually allowed to a law firm employee. Because of these benefits, and because the staffing needs of law firms will continue to fluctuate, contract lawyering as an alternative to the full-time practice of law will continue to grow.