Finding Your Niche as a Lawyer Consultant
It’s very easy to get confused, but a legal consultant is not the same as a lawyer or attorney. The best way to put it in simple terms is by thinking of all of the medical experts that you have had dealings with. Your medical doctor is not a plastic surgeon, and neither of them is a specialist in cardiology or podiatry, but they are all very important people that can help human patients in very different and distinct ways. To make it even simpler, think of that doctor that you go to for a cold, or just to examine that weird growth on your foot that you think has sprouted overnight. They are not necessarily the same person that you go to for a broken arm or leg, nor is that person the same that you go to for a heart condition. There are some similarities, but not everything.
Lawyers, just like doctors and specialists , have some variation in the practice. A legal consultant is not going to be your representative in court. In fact, any area of law that you are dealing with, a legal consultant cannot represent you. Think tax law as an example. Your legal consultant has experience and expertise in that area, but would not be allowed to represent you.
However, a legal consultant would be a person that can turn your rate of success generally from 33% to 66%. This is someone that can be invaluable in the way of helping you with the legal system, the areas in which he or she specializes, and giving you advice. When it comes to wins and losses, every little bit counts, whether you are dealing with a criminal matter, going through a divorce, a tax dispute, or a business transaction gone wrong. This is the person to have on your side, someone who can give you guidance, someone who knows the law.
Essential Educational Background for Legal Consultant
The prerequisites to a career in legal consulting are straightforward and do not require anything extra than what you would study to become a lawyer. Since the role of legal adviser might change from day to day, the best preparation for becoming a legal consultant is to be broadly educated in the law, rather than specializing in one particular area. Courses in business law, administrative law, and employment law would be an asset to the legal consultant, as would any education in negotiation strategy and specific contract law.
Any other courses you take that might improve your legal knowledge would be recommended, but it is not incumbent upon a legal consultant to have knowledge of all areas of the law. If necessary, a legal consultant can research areas they are unfamiliar with while the client is present and solve any legal issues that arise on the spot.
For a career as a legal consultant, you would require the four-year undergraduate bachelor’s degree. In order to receive your bachelor’s, you will need to complete 120 credit hours. This break down to 43 hours of general education, 43 hours within your major concentration (generally law or criminal justice for legal consultants), and 24 elective credit hours that could include undergraduate courses in topics such as business administration, human resources, accounting, and so forth. A GPA over 3.0 and a strong score on your LSAT might be required for legal consulting firms.
Key Skills for Success as a Legal Consultant
The skills required for success in legal consulting go beyond merely possessing legal knowledge and expertise. Since consultants often serve in an advisory capacity, they must also have strong interpersonal skills, critical thinking capabilities, and highly developed research capabilities.
Think critically: The legal consultant must be able to assess circumstances and identify the best course of action for the situation. This usually entails going beyond the surface assessment of facts, which are often incomplete at the outset, and using inductive reasoning to understand how the situation came into being, and to develop a strategy for addressing essential issues.
Be an outstanding researcher: To achieve success, the legal consultant must be able to draw upon extensive research capabilities in order to present solutions based upon a complete understanding of the facts. The consultant must not only be able to access and comprehend the relevant law, but must also be able to effectively and efficiently conduct legal research in order to determine applicability of the law to the case. It is increasingly necessary to rely upon researchers who understand both legal research and the technologies used to increase efficiency.
Exercise superior communication skills: Legal consultants must have the fundamental abilities to both communicate and convey information. Some situations require the ability to persuade as well, in circumstances where the consultant has a client or third party to whom the legal consultant must "sell" a strategy or solution.
Possess street smarts: Street smarts distinguish people who are successful with the common sense and practical knowledge necessary to deal with complex and dynamic situations. Soliciting the help of a legal consultant who possesses street smarts can help navigate potential pitfalls.
Believe in yourself: Confidence in oneself and one’s opinions, while still respecting those of the client, can help develop a strong foundation upon which to achieve success.
Legal Experience: How to Make it Count
A strong educational foundation is just the beginning of a successful career as a legal consultant. The first step on the career ladder is gaining experience in the legal field.
For those just starting out, pursuing an internship or an entry-level position to gain this vital experience is the way to go — after all, you can’t become successful at consulting until you’ve become experienced enough to handle a variety of legal matters confidently.
Seek an internship with a law firm, corporate legal department or relevant government agency. Make the most of your time by immersing yourself in the department’s daily activities; as you gain valuable legal knowledge, you will also build the confidence required to succeed in the next phase of your legal career.
Doing some volunteer work or pro bono cases can be a great way to gain more experience and provide services to your community.
Working your way up to a consulting position and seeking more experience along the way can make you a more competent, confident and successful legal consultant.
The Art of Networking as a Legal Consultant
In the highly competitive legal industry, networking is a crucial component of building a successful career as a legal consultant. It offers an opportunity to connect with new contacts on a personal level, and can help you build professional relationships that are just as important as the work product you provide. With the advent of social media, networking has become faster and easier than ever, but personal interaction is still a necessary component of the process. The good news is that good networking strategies can make up for shortfalls in your social media presence, and vice versa. Here are some tips for using both to ensure professional success: By developing your professional network through a combination of social media and personal connections, you can increase your visibility among potential clients and reduce the need for cold contact. As a result, you’ll be able to spend less time on marketing your services and more time providing excellent work for clients.
Narrowing Your Focus as a Legal Consultant
The best legal consultants establish a defined area of specialization, difficult as that may be to do. A number of factors can guide a prospective consultant on the path of specialization, including but not limited to former employers, former colleagues, or simply an area of personal interest and passion. In the public sector, for example, when government lawyers leave their jobs they are often contacted by private firms about joining them. The firm believes that a former government lawyer has a knowledge base and contacts that will be of enormous value when it represents private clients who have dealings with state, county, city or other governmental departments. In addition, most segments of the legal profession operate with a degree of individuality, which can be both instructive and educational . Being associated with particular firms, in-house groups or agencies is one way of being exposed in-depth to areas of the law and practice. Such experience, in turn, can build credibility with potential clients. Specialized legal consultants convince them of both breadth and depth of experience, and that added value is particularly important to new clients. In addition, such clients are more likely to recommend a specialist as well. If you look at the form or content of conventional web sites, e-mail blasts or brochures, you will notice that they reflect the desire or requirement to project both familiarity and proficiency with a specific area of law. A specialized focus reduces the range of potential clients, but increases the likelihood of a client taking advantage of your services.
Structuring a Legal Consultancy
When it comes to structuring your new legal consulting company, you have several decisions to make. You can be a sole proprietorship, a general partnership, a limited partnership, a corporation, or a limited liability company. The first term – "sole proprietorship" – is simply when you are the only owner of the business and have total control. As the owner, you may hire employees, but you and only you make decisions. As the sole owner of your consulting business, all profits are yours alone. But, as you probably know, a sole proprietorship is a risky venture in that if a claim were to be brought against your consulting practice, your assets — such as your home, savings accounts, car, etc. — could be used to satisfy any possible judgment. Hence, liability insurance is a must for consultants and for lawyers who consult.
If two or more persons are starting the consulting practice together, you will need to form a partnership, which can be either general or limited. In a general partnership, all owners are equal. They have the same rights in the operation of the business, share in the profits and losses equally, and have the same liability for the decisions made as consultants. Any partner may also bind all partners to a contract concerning the business. If the partnership were sued, all partners would be equally liable for any claims made against the partnership. In a limited partnership, two or more people are joint owners but only one of them has personal liability for business debts and claims made. The general partner is personally liable for debts made by the partnership, and they may be required to personally sign contracts. Limited partners have limited liability. The general partner, however, may still choose to hire employees as consultants.
If you decide to form a corporation or a limited liability company, you will be able to limit your personal liability exposure. Corporations are legal entities separate from the owners/members. They limit personal liability because corporations are accountable for their own debts. But they also require you to comply with additional tax, governmental, and administrative requirements. Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) have a more simplified management structure than a corporation. Generally speaking, there is more flexibility in organizing the LLC to accommodate the needs of the owners/members. With an LLC, it is also less likely you will be considered a "partner" which would obligate you to pay employment taxes on your wages and benefits.
At the end of the day, dependence on your clients for cash flow and payments poses inherent risks regardless of the legal entity under which you operate.
Promoting Your Legal Consultancy
Having a polished marketing strategy to promote your legal consulting services is key to your success. The nature of consulting work means finding the right fit is essential and often takes time, so give yourself every advantage with a comprehensive marketing strategy and plan.
On a broad level, you’ll want to select how you will position yourself both on your website and in person. Will you focus on your niche, leveraging your expertise in a particular area of law, or will you focus on your experience in a corresponding area, such as business development and growth for a legal company?
That answer will guide both how clients view you and set the tone for your marketing efforts. In addition to a professional design and publishing of your website, which is an absolute must, company branding and corporate materials need to be considered upfront and affected by your choices.
Once you’ve appointed yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you can focus in on how you will leverage social media platforms to further stay on your target market’s radar. Most importantly: Be responsive. The business world moves fast and you don’t want to miss one opportunity from another.
Also make sure you’re aware of any other competitors who have positioned themselves ahead of you and have already developed their own marketing strategy. You can strategically partner with some of them as a consulting group to open new doors for you both.
Professional Ethics as a Legal Consultant
It is imperative that a legal consultant understands the ethical considerations involved. A legal consultant is presumed to have the same duty of competence and confidentiality to their clients that an attorney has to their client. Competence means having the necessary knowledge and skill to carry out an engagement or expressing the appropriate limitations and obtaining the necessary assistance.
One common issue that arises with respect to confidentiality is when a legal consultant receives a written communication from or regarding a party while the consultant is employed. Many legal consultants wish to maintain a clear division between themselves and the law firm with which they are consulting. In the event that a written communication, such as a letter from a plaintiff’s attorney, is received by the legal consultant it should be carefully reviewed and the substance of the communication compared to other information known to the legal consultant. If the substance of the letter proposes some course of action that might be advantageous to the defendant, but unknown to the known parties (for example, an offer to settle), then it is appropriate to forward that letter to defense counsel without breaching the attorney-client privilege.
In the above example, the legal consultant received a communication from the plaintiff’s attorney; however, the consultant did not breach any confidences because the contents of the letter were subject to the attorney-client privilege as the communication was between the plaintiff and his attorney in anticipation of litigation .
Another common conflict of interest issue occurs when a legal consultant who is formerly a treating physician for one of the parties is hired by another party. For example, consider if the plaintiff’s prior treating orthopedic surgeon is also the medical expert for the defendant. In this situation, the prior treating physician has to balance the patient’s right of privilege (to keep the medical records confidential) with the need of the defense to understand the plaintiff’s current medical condition and how it relates to the litigation.
The question becomes: does the defense attorney have a right to see the plaintiff’s entire chart when the person with the privilege is now suing the person who had access to his entire chart? The answer is that, under most circumstances, the plaintiff’s permission to review under the supervision of defense counsel is sufficient and will likely not be considered a waiver of privilege. An attorney should discuss in detail the potential issue with the plaintiff and obtain a documented consent for the defense attorney to review the chart which adequately addresses the concerns of the plaintiff.
This discussion is not comprehensive but is meant to raise the awareness of a potential conflict. There are many creative solutions to issues that arise and oftentimes particular circumstances may warrant different solutions. Talking through the various options with counsel is imperative to avoid an ethical misstep.