Why Do I Blog About Working As a Contract Attorney?
I was approached recently by a local reporter who wanted to talk to me about what it’s like working as a contract attorney. One of the interesting questions the reporter asked me was why I chose to blog about my life as a contract attorney. My response - because I didn’t see anyone else doing it in the fashion that I wanted or liked.
Contract attorneys enjoy debating and talking among themselves but there really isn’t much of an online outlet for this type of activity. There are a few related online forums but those sites are populated by mostly obscene, wisecracking people. Other sites such as The Posse List and the Yahoo Contract Attorneys Group are legitimate, but they focus on employment and legal staffing. Occasionally they will discuss issues affecting contract attorneys, but that’s not their primary mission.
There are only a few contract attorney blogs out there, most notably the one up in New York City, but his site pulsates too much negativity for me at times, although I admit I am often thoroughly amused and entertained by what he has to say. He’s been blogging for several years now with the same pessimistic message, which makes me wonder at times just how much of it is real and how much is spin. There is some truth sprinkled in his writing, but it just seems a tad too one sided in my opinion.
My Approach Is To Be More Positive
It might be fun to sit around and blast all law firms and staffing agencies about their practices, but after a while it would get old and tiresome. I’m trying to create a site where we can all discuss issues that affect us all. We’re all in this profession together so we might as well pool our thoughts and share with each other the fruits of our experiences. I’ve always greatly enjoyed listening to the advice of the “old timers” in the contract attorney world. Most of them are not old at all, but simply have been doing this work for a long time and frequently have fascinating stories to share.
Eventually I would like to start discussing more controversial topics but currently I am trying to keep above the controversy fray. I am aware that staffing agencies and law firms routinely monitor the blogosphere for content that portray the profession or their firm in a negative light. But I believe strongly in the freedom of speech and the right to exercise it within the reasonable confines of the rules of professional responsibility. I also believe in protecting the privacy of readers. So I welcome the attention and participation of all and hope everyone can learn and improve a thing or two.
October 28th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I agree that the other blog (we’ll call it the Tom blog) often includes a lot of harsh language, and is generally pessimistic. At the same time, I do think a lot of the criticisms are not only entertaining, but very true.
Being a temp attorney is in fact quite frustrating and I can see why there’s all that anger out there. There’s a lot of blame game going on, with strong attacks against law schools for overpopulating the world with unnecessary amounts of lawyers who now have no job prospects but large debts. Although some of the criticisms are too harsh, most are on the money.
As for thoughts about the temp world, I’ve always wondered why it seems impossible for temps to do anything but code clicking. There must be other tasks that temps can do. I mean, I know of temp attorneys that do other things, but the large portion is code clicking. I wish that temp attorneys could be given a wider variety of tasks. That’s how I would run a temp annex. Some people like clicking away non-stop. Good for them. But I’d rather have a mix to break the monotony once in a while. I’d even make it a simple option. All my temp attorneys can have a choice on Wednesdays and Fridays in the afternoon to shift out of coding and into something like data entry, or whatever. And if that type of task is paid at a lesser rate, then I’d say “hey, here’s your option, you can take a break from the monotony for a couple hours, but be paid at a lower rate.” Honestly, I would take it. And people who don’t want to take it, that’s fine too. But an option like that would raise my contentness level exponentially. Clicking away as my entire job description is depressing to say the least.
October 28th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
October 31st, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Law firms, unfortunately, have no incentive to train contract lawyers to do more substantive work, for less. They are the only entities that can teach it, aside from law schools, which focus mostly on theory, with the exception of a few that focus on the actual practice of law.
If clients begin to demand that law firms teach contract lawyers how do to more, I think that trend would change.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I commend you for creating this blog (will you ever reveal who you are, have I ever worked with you, am I on a project with you right now and don’t know it?). Your site is very insightful and informative. I checked out the “other” site and I was a bit surprised at some of the comments he posted, as well as some of the readers’ comments (which I thought were rather inappropriate). I hope you continue to write about the positive aspects of life as a contract attorney and provide us with useful advice as you have been doing.
So, are there any agencies that stand out in DC, as being better than the others? Or, is that too controversial to discuss?
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thank you for a thoughtful blog. I have bookmarked it and enjoy reading it when I get a chance. I also find the Tom blog profane and funny, but very negative at times. I have been in the contract business for two years and have had some great and not so great experiences. As to Vinny’s astute comments, I am lucky to now be in a substantive contract assignment. It has no OT, but work is interesting and varied - I got it based on previous experience in that area of law. It is nice to have something else to add to my resume and it is nice to be back to writing and analyzing again.