Ethically Working With Contract Lawyers: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

The legal industry has evolved beyond traditional law firm practice to encompass a number of non-traditional models of providing legal services, including unbundled, project-based legal work provided by contract/freelance attorneys. These different arrangements present new ethical scenarios, both for the freelance attorneys and the law firms that use them.

On Tuesday, October 13th, Erin Giglia, co-owner, and founder of Montage Legal Group, will present a course titled “Ethically Working With Contract Lawyers: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid” through Lawline.  Erin will use hypothetical scenarios to explore best practices when using freelance and contract attorneys and will benefit hiring law firms by focusing on the following:

• Identifying the most common ethical issues that arise when working with contract attorneys
• Exploring different relationship options with lawyers outside the firm
• Discussing best practices and how to avoid ethical pitfalls

Erin’s course will provide 1 hour of ethics credit for California, and ethics credit in multiple other states.  To register, view the course here: Ethically Working With Contract Lawyers: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid.

Erin Giglia

Erin Giglia is a co-founder and co-owner of Montage Legal Group, a nationwide network of experienced freelance lawyers who work remotely on a project basis for law firms that need help with overflow and specialty areas of law.  Prior to founding Montage in 2009, Erin practiced litigation at Snell & Wilmer LLP in Orange County, California.  Erin graduated from Wellesley College in 1998, and obtained her JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, cum laude and Order of the Coif, in 2001.

Erin and her business partner Laurie Rowen have been featured in numerous publications including Freelance Law: Lawyers’ Network Helps These Women Keep a Hand in the Workforce (ABA Journal, 2011) and How Two Stay-at-Home Moms Are Changing the Legal Industry (Forbes.com, 2014).  Montage’s unique business model has been discussed in various books, including Life After Law (2013), Overwhelmed (2015) and Lawyer Interrupted (2016).

Erin and Laurie are frequent speakers on legal ethics, and have published numerous articles on contract lawyering, including the Ethics of Contract Lawyering (Law.com-The Recorder, 2013), Stay Ethical While Growing Your Firm (ABA’s Law Practice Today, 2017), and Law Firm Growth During an Uncertain Legal Climate – Part 1: Of Counsel Relationships (California Lawyers Association’s “The Practitioner” for Solo and Small Firms, 2020).