Comments on: Why Do I Blog About Working As a Contract Attorney?

By: LAC

LAC — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:07:52 +0000

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.

By: MAB Reader

MAB Reader — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:14:00 +0000

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?

By: Joseph Miller

Joseph Miller — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:34:14 +0000

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.

By: Temp Partner

Temp Partner — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:02:48 +0000

There are substantive contract positions out there but many require a few years of related experience. For those people who can qualify for those assignments, it’s a decent way to diversify your work mix and a way to become more in demand, see foreign language review work.

By: Vinny C.

Vinny C. — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:13:32 +0000

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.