It Might Be Tempting, But It’s Never A Good Idea to Jump Ship
In this contract attorney business, we all pretty much work for ourselves. There is some loyalty in the sense that if you have a good working relationship with your agency, they may give you the heads up about an upcoming project quicker than they would offer the same information to another contract attorney. But the bottom line is we move from project to project like nomads, chasing the next available assignment, and loyalty is only a means to an end. My sense is that most contract attorneys will stay loyal to the project so long as it is still ongoing and continues to provide a living wage and working benefits. But when the project is near its last legs, or when the working benefits are curtailed or non-existent, there may be a feeling for some that the time to bail is near.
It’s Important To Stay The Course and Not Bail
There have been times I’ve been staffed and ended up stuck on a bad project. Maybe the hours were too short, overtime was limited, internet usage was banned, with no meal reimbursement, and under stifling working conditions. In those type of situations I have seriously given thought to leaving the project mid-stream for another one. My advice is, don’t do it! Projects don’t last forever and they eventually will end.
Ditching an assignment before it is over is a sure fire way of getting on the staffing agency and law firm’s bad side and could and likely will result in you becoming permanently banned from working with them ever again. Many contract attorneys like to overlap their projects seamlessly and may try to jump ship before it is over to catch the next project before it sails. Once again, don’t do it. The damage you’ll do to your working reputation isn’t worth it. This is not just for contract attorneys, the same goes for anyone in any profession. Do you think any client would be pleased if the person they hired left them in a lurch the moment a better assignment came along?
I have known people who became blacklisted from certain agencies because they left their project before it was over. Don’t expect to hear from the agency again anytime soon about upcoming projects if you do that. They will likely remove you from all future project consideration. Of course, the blacklist is agency and law firm specific. You can easily go work for another agency and law firm, but because the contract attorney world is so small, it is likely you will bump into the same law firm again in the future and find yourself regretting that you burned that particular bridge in the past.
Try to maintain good working relationships. I know there are some bad assignments out there with working conditions akin to that of working in a sweatshop, but from my experience, only a handful of projects are really that bad.
In the event that you do burn an agency by jumping ship and you find yourself blacklisted. Given the passage of time, it is sometimes possible to get back into the agency’s good graces. Remember, they need you for staffing purposes just as much as you need them for job leads. You just have to convince them by apologizing and assuring them that it was an isolated incident that won’t be repeated. Some agencies have been known to take people back. Just don’t make it a systematic practice.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
It’s always good to ask questions ahead of time to find out work conditions. You can ask agencies which firm you will be working for, whether meals will be paid, etc., before you start the project, to find out whether it will be a good fit. That’s why it’s best to sign up with more than one agency: If you say no to a project, before you take it, because you don’t like the conditions, you can rest assured that you will get something from another agency, and your all bridges will remain intact.
In any case, you will find more opportunities if you do not limit yourself to contract work and do your due diligence to find full-time opportunities.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:18 am
October 11th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Having worked in the magical world of contract lawyer for about 6 years now, I will offer this: in a dry/dead market (like now) what you say is probably true. But in hot markets (2004 and 2006 come to mind) agencies forget/forgive. I know scores of contract attorneys who jumped ship all the time in those heady days, and supposedly burned bridges/were blacklisted by agencies, only to get a call 1-2 weeks later “are you available?” When they have to fill the seats, anybody will do. In this world (like all others), money is the thing.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
I have to say that I agree with Peter. If the market is hot, the chances are strong that an agency will forgive if you bail, especially if you have a good relationship with them previously. I also believe that it’s how you bail that can make the difference. I’ve told a lot of contract attorneys that it is better to give a viable excuse (e.g. family emergency), than to just disappear. Even with those who disappear, I have seen them re-hired again and again, especially if they are excellent doc reviewers.
Unfortunately, loyalty in the contract attorney business means mostly loyalty to yourself. It’s your survival that you should care about because most of the agencies and firms could care less about you. I think most contract attorneys learn that very early on. If they do not, they can get very disappointed and disillusioned, if not downright bitter.