One of the biggest considerations of adding an associate attorney to your firm is – invariably . . . wait for it . . . COST. No surprise there – is it?
In addition to salary, there are other benefits to consider because these days benefits are almost as important to many employees as salary. There are costs for the employers’ share of taxes, healthcare, long and short term disability, 401k matching plans, time off, bonuses and workers’ compensation coverage. Even if a compensation package is structured with a pay for performance component as opposed to just a flat bonus, it still adds to the overall cost of the compensation package. Given all these additional expenses, a $100k salary suddenly becomes $130k or more by the time you calculate the benefits and additional expenses. Add to that the cost of office space for the employee and possibly a parking space and the cost of that associate just continues to rise.
The thought process here is to build your practice and have an attorney ready to help with the deluge of new business that your firm’s marketing plan is going to attract. But can you really afford to lay out the expense of hiring an attorney before the business comes in?
For most firms, the answer is simply no. These days the legal market is very competitive and few firms are in a position to hire an associate who is in the office while your firm waits for client traffic to flow in.
De Novo Review, LLC provides flex-attorney staffing to law firms. When there is a shift in the workload and your firm suddenly has simultaneous or competing priorities, our firm can provide a contract or flex-time lawyer on your firm’s terms:
1. Ultimate Flex-Time (monthly time blocks). Select a block of 20, 60, or 120 hours to be used in a specific month or quarter. The larger time blocks you select, the lower the hourly rate. This plan gives you ultimate flexibility especially when you are anticipating future needs.
2. Interim Flex-Time (specific days). With in-house legal work but not enough to hire a full-time attorney, this plan allows you to choose 2, 3 or 4 days a week. Your Flex-Time attorney will be available on those days.
3. Gap Flex-Time (specific period). Get full-time attorney help to cover a leave, absence or fill-in during the selection process of a new hire. This plan helps you fill in employment gaps without having to commit long term.
De Novo’s mission is to help your law firm “Get quality help when you need it, in the exact amount you need”. Call our office at 786-251-5814, contact genny@denovoreiew-new.us21.cdn-alpha.com or check out our website at: