Rare is the law practice that cannot benefit from the use of a contract attorney with litigation experience and expertise in appeals. Careful review by an appellate attorney often provides the fresh insight and advice necessary for successful representation. When more substantive services are required, hiring a litigation and appeals consultant provides law firms with the advantage of providing their clients with a high quality work product produced by experts in the field.

What Services Does The Alderman Law Firm Offer?

The Alderman Law Firm offers litigation consulting with appellate expertise. We perform a wide range of services, from drafting high-quality substantive motions to expertly assembling settlement demand packages, all with special attention to preserving the record for appeal.

Why Outsource Legal Work?

Law firms have used the consulting services offered by the Alderman Law Firm in order to permit their attorneys focus on the work that fits best in their skill set, or that they simply enjoy more. Consulting relationships can be ongoing or discrete, depending on the needs of the hiring attorney.

In terms of appeals, appellate practice is a highly specialized field of law. Attorneys who do not specialize in appellate litigation generally handle few appeals if any throughout their career. The expert appellate services offered by the Alderman Law Firm are well suited for law firms that do not perform appellate work on a routine basis, but have clients with appellate needs.

Is it Ethical?

The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has addressed this question in Formal Opinion 08-451. In this Opinion, the Committee explained that attorneys may engage other lawyers working as independent contractors to perform a wide range of legal services. The Opinion states that these tasks can range from drafting patent applications to developing legal strategies to preparing motion papers for litigation.

The Committee further explains:

[quote]Outsourcing affords lawyers the ability to reduce their costs and often the cost to the client to the extent that the individuals or entities providing the outsourced services can do so at lower rates than the lawyer’s own staff. In addition, the availability of lawyers and nonlawyers to perform discrete tasks may, in some circumstances, allow for the provision of labor-intensive legal services by lawyers who do not otherwise maintain the needed human resources on an ongoing basis. A small firm might not regularly employ the lawyers and legal assistants required to handle a large, discovery-intensive litigation effectively. Outsourcing, however, can enable that firm to represent a client in such a matter effectively and efficiently, by engaging additional lawyers to conduct depositions or to review and analyze documents, together with a temporary staff of legal assistants to provide infrastructural support.[/quote]

In essence, subject to ethical requirements, the scope of work that may be outsourced is limited only by the contract attorney’s capabilities and the hiring attorney’s ability to delegate.

Why The Alderman Law Firm?

Consulting for other attorneys comprises a fair portion of the Alderman Law Firm’s practice. Managing attorney Kimberly Penix has been providing legal research and writing consulting services since 2008. She has published extensively on the topic of outsourcing legal work, and is the author of the seminal book on the topic: The Freelance Lawyering Manual. She also developed the Freelance Lawyering Course at Solo Practice University.

Attorneys who retain litigation consulting services through the Alderman Law Firm can be confident that their own practice is being complimented by the expertise and knowledge of attorneys dedicated to litigation and appellate work.

What If I Have More Questions?

For further information on the legal research, document drafting, and litigation consulting services, please contact the Alderman Law Firm at (720) 588-3529.