First of all, what is a freelance legal consultant? And what will they do for you? Independent legal consultants are independent contractors who work from home or from a remote workplace. In other words, they work from a “virtual” office instead of a traditional law firm. They are typically not connected to a single employer and work for a variety of clients around the world. Being their own boss, they can choose the projects they want and keep flexible hours. In your search, you may find that they go by other names, such as solo legal professional, virtual legal clerk, independent legal contractor, virtual legal professional, independent legal consultant, etc.

Independent legal consultants can help clients with numerous legal matters and can also perform local work on behalf of an out-of-town company, such as court appearances and/or filing of documents, which would eliminate a non-local attorney from having to travel to a specific place.

There are many within the industry who lend themselves to this type of freelance work, including but not limited to attorneys, law students, paralegals, paralegals, court reporters, secretaries, litigation support staff, and legal nurse consultants.

Remote legal professionals can handle matters such as legal transcription, research, contract drafting, statement summaries, indexing, paralegal services, legal writing, document drafting and preparation, litigation support , patent review and much more.

Now that you know what they do, where can you find an independent legal consultant? The answer is simple: the Internet. There are numerous freelance job sites. What you will want to do is peruse many of them, finding which one best suits your needs. Then all you need to do is create your job listing. You can do this on one site or all of them. Be sure to include as much information as is necessary for freelancers to know exactly what they will be bidding on.

Yes, there will be tons of people responding to your project listing with offers. Now, that doesn’t mean you accept the lowest offer. While sometimes the lowest bidder can do a great job, that’s not always the case. Do your research. Go to the profile page of each bidder and see all their information, portfolios, reviews and statistics.

Once you’ve selected the best freelancers for the job, you’ll have the opportunity to interview each one. Ask questions and narrow down your answers again. It is very important to have good communication. If a freelancer doesn’t communicate well with you, the job may not be done to your liking.

By finding a great freelancer, you now have the potential to hire them “as needed.” No need to pay taxes, no office overhead, and no “hiring” and “firing” worries, per se. In fact, you can hire several freelancers for different jobs and have them at your disposal. It’s really a win/win situation all around. Give it a try. I think you will find that it is the best way to do it.