Mounting economic pressures have forced the legal profession to explore new ways of increasing productivity and efficiency while reducing costs. As a result, many law firms routinely engage lawyers on a temporary basis for specific projects.
Using OnPoint on a contract basis means corporate and law firm counsel receive the benefit of additional assistance and expertise without the headache of having to lay off permanent lawyers when work-flows decrease.
Some reasons to add OnPoint to your legal team:
- To meet the inevitable ebb and flow of workloads. Law firms and corporate counsel can rely on contract lawyers with the experience and skills to complete key activities on a variety of cases and assignments. This can can be especially beneficial during peak workloads when additional support is required on short notice to meet deadlines.
- To generate revenue. Our low overhead allows us to set very reasonable rates. Many of our clients consider using our services as equivalent to adopting work completed by in-house associates, and add a premium for their firm when invoicing their clients. In addition, corporate legal departments can control costs by retaining projects in house. Using qualified contract lawyers instead of sending projects to outside counsel can result in a dramatic reduction in costs.
- To avoid overhead. Associate salaries- and accompanying overhead- are a major expense for law firms. An OnPoint lawyer is not an employee, so law firms are not required to provide employee benefits or cover other costs such as practice fees and insurance, WCB, vacation, sick leave, and severance.
- To assist with document review. Buried under the ever-rising piles of discovery documents that define todays litigation, particularly in the emerging era of e-discovery, many firms and corporate counsel are relying on temporary lawyers to help them make sense of the mess.
- When specialist advice is required. Rather than give up a file involving a niche area not practiced by a firm, an OnPoint lawyer with specific practice area expertise can be brought in to provide advice or to handle the file.
- To assist with scheduling conflict. Our lawyers handle court appearances, examinations for discovery, real estate closings, or other elements of a file while our clients take care of other matters.
- To test whether a full-time lawyer is required. Demand can be tested by using the services of an OnPoint lawyer, without risking making a permanent hiring decision.
- To enjoy their practice. We only bring on board litigators and solicitors with exceptional qualifications. Our clients can rest assured that their files will be handled expertly and efficiently while they focus on other aspects of their practice.