Legal Freelancing??

25 March 2007
Ashish

What the heck..Is it possible?? How do you do it? Well it is a tough question to answer, specially when you are in India and your clients are in US or Europe. There are tools and technologies to help you out, but the field is too traditional to handle. The current scenario is that legal outsourcing firms are spreading their businesses and getting more and more clients. But then, you are a freelancer, working alone, with limited resources and handful of knowledge. Can you go ahead with it or it is just too cumbersome to find a client?

Right now the scenario is that the outsourced legal jobs are mainly in IPR, contract drafting, document reviews or legal research. Well, the clients are abroad and you are going to approach them...how?

Get in touch with freelance website: These websites have a handful of projects listed (Elance being the best provider). But, the problem is that there are big players waiting for it, and you have tough time convincing the buyers. The lawyers from US have a benefit of being easily accessible to the client, being able to understand them and having years of experience. What to do now..Again the cost is the key...how much you bid and what portfolio you show. Be patient, it will take some time for you to get your first project and hopefully by then, impatient will not wait (reducing competition)!

Get in touch with law firms: These law firms (in India and abroad) often look for freelancers to carry out there jobs cheaply. The Indian law firms are in the phase of transition from serving traditional Indian clients to handling foreign clients. So they so called half established business, which are either looking for a VC to invest or striving to be self sustainable in due time.

The path to freelance in legal area is foggy though I believe its worth pursuing.

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