A legal temp agency specializes in finding your company the legal help you need on a part-time or temporary basis. They work with professionals who are experienced in every aspect of the law. Most legal temporary agencies can provide your company with people who specialize in every type of practice, but you will need to know exactly what your company needs to ensure you hire the right person. To do this, it is important for you to be aware of basic temp agencies for the legal profession key terms.

Business executives who are in need of the services of a legal temporary agency can get the help they are seeking from a variety of sources. Before calling to make an inquiry, there are a few terms you should become familiar with. Some of the concepts to investigate include:

1. What paralegal temp jobs involve;

2. The different types of attorneys that are available;

3. Which type of legal temp work staffer handles document review compliance.

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Learn about the litigation work a legal temp manages

Litigation is the process of handling a lawsuit from start to finish. Two key terms that are involved in this process are document review and contract attorneys. The attorney is the person you hire for a particular lawsuit your company is dealing with. During this time, the attorney will have to review a large number of legal documents and sort them by relevancy. This is one of the most important tasks to be done for any case.

I recommend: Read a definition of "contract attorneys" from AdamsGrayson or "document review" from Compliance.

Understand the legal temp jobs of paralegals and legal assistants

Business owners who contact temp agencies for the legal profession may need basic legal services. They can get the help they need from either a paralegal or legal assistant, but these workers can not legally give out advice. Hire them when you need personnel to work for a corporate attorney on specific projects that are too large to be handled in house. Paralegals and legal assistants are well trained and have the experience to help your company get the job done.

I recommend: Learn more about paralegals and legal assistants from The National Association of Legal Assistants and the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Check out temporary paralegal jobs for litigation attorneys and onsite contract attorneys

Two of the most important legal temping positions are litigation attorneys and onsite contract attorneys. Contract attorneys work on a temporary basis in your office. They help with a variety of legal matters and cost far less than hiring a full-time person. Litigation attorneys help prepare for any impending court cases. They are the people that help you prepare for a court case. You can find people who specialize in the type of trial you are facing and rely on their expertise.

I recommend: Read more about onsite contract attorneys from Lawwave. Get help hiring a litigation attorney from iLawyer

Work with a paralegal temp agency

Once you understand important terminology that legal temp agencies use, you are better prepared to find and hire the professional your company requires. Speak to representatives from various agencies to find one that will work well with you. Investigate their history, fees and how much success they have achieved during their time in business.

I recommend: Hire professionals from Black Letter Discovery or Update Legal.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Hire legal temps to test them out when you are considering filling a full-time position.
• •  Check out any paralegal temp agencies with the Better Business Bureau before working with them.
• •  Don't allow temp agencies for the legal profession key terms to overwhelm you. While it is important to understand the basics, the people working at the agency are knowledgeable and will help you find the right person for the job.

All businesses have situations arise when it is necessary to engage temp agencies. Legal temp agencies are the best bet when a law firm has an unexpected emergency or a temporary work overload. Due to the nature of the profession, legal temp jobs demand a high level of professionalism and special expertise that a legal temp agency can better address.

Whether a lawyer needs a paralegal temp agency to find him help researching a big case or a law firm needs a legal temp to fill in as a secretary due to a vacation, you want a legal temp agency that can provide you with high-caliber professionals. Considerations when looking at legal temporary agencies are:

1. Legal temporary agencies that can fill your specific job requirements
2. A legal temp who has a high ethical standard and meshes with your firm
3. Salary

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Invest time in researching legal temp agencies

The best way to locate professional legal temps is to find a good legal temp agency.

I recommend: Start with JuriStaff. Attorneys own this legal staffing firm, and they fill legal temp jobs throughout the US for lawyers and support staff. Leading national temp agency Robert Half also fills legal temp jobs. For a directory of temp agencies for the legal profession, see LawGuru. Use a checklist from Business Owner's Toolkit to evaluate paralegal temp agencies.

Interview legal temps yourself

After the agency has narrowed down the candidates, request to interview them yourself. You are the best judge of how a person will fit into your firm.

I recommend: Review Work.com’s Guide to Pre-Employment Testing or Robert Half Legal’s tips.

Learn what the high and low salaries are for legal temps

Of course, this will depend to a large degree on what part of the country you are in and what the duties are. And a paralegal will cost more than other legal temps due to their level of their education.

I recommend: Get the free legal salary guide from Robert Half Legal. You can also check online at Salary.com.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Temp agencies for the legal profession are a booming business because of the advantages for both employer and employee. The employer often pays less because they don't have to pay out benefits or taxes. The employee still gets those benefits through the legal temporary agencies and can sometimes find permanent work through temporary assignments. This means you can take advantage of the cost competitiveness in this market by doing some comparisons.
• •  Attorneys must adhere to a code of ethics not found in many other professions. Specifically, confidentiality is not an option with your personnel. Find an agency that performs background checks on its temps.

There are many situations in which a legal department would benefit from temp agencies for the legal profession, which provide assistance for temping in the legal and business worlds. Whether a paralegal or lawyer goes on maternity leave or they quit with no notice, coming up short with respect to workers is often one of the harsh realities of owning and working in a business.

Regardless of why a department would benefit from the assistance of a legal temp agency, the simple fact of the matter is that many businesses can and will experience a situation where such a course of action is necessary. Temp agencies for the legal profession education and training can take a number of different forms. Businesses may benefit from their abilities to:

1. Learn what temp agencies for the legal profession have to offer legal offices and departments.

2. Find legal temp agencies to help you fill the positions in your company as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

3. Determine how to find applicants for legal temp jobs from quality paralegal temp agencies and other legal temporary agencies.

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Become educated on what legal temps from legal temp agencies have to offer your business

Before any law department inquires about help from temp agencies for the legal profession, they will want to know what benefits a legal temporary agency could offer their business. This is a smart move for any business who wants to protect itself financially. Before investing in businesses specializing in legal temping, it is important to understand why such an option could be advantageous. Every company has a bottom line, financially speaking, and it is important to ensure that legal temping investments would balance out in the long run.

I recommend: HG.org offers detailed information as to why a business may benefit from legal temp agencies. Some of these valued aspects include the fact that such agencies are able to improve the market for legal work by helping to bridge the gap which often exists between contract professionals and law firms. Meanwhile, Robert Half Legal discusses the specific services they, and many other legal staffing agencies, offer. Individual law departments can review these services in order to determine whether or not such features would benefit them as an individual entity. After all, the value of anything is decreased if the prospective investor does not need the services.

Use databases provided by legal temp agencies to learn how employers and employees both benefit

In order to reap the benefits of a legal temp agency, it is important to be able to locate them. There are a number of directories and databases which can offer valuable information regarding agencies providing applicants for legal temp work. This can make the search much shorter, effective and efficient for law departments in need of legal temping. Educate yourself with lists of agencies in your area when you need to staff your law office or find a job.

I recommend: LawGuru.com offers a directory to paralegal temp agencies in particular regions, as well as all over the United States. Lists of legal temp agencies like the one provided at Santa Clara Law, including firms in California (Sacramento, Los Angeles and the Bay Area) and Washington State provide new graduates with sources for finding temp jobs right after college, while your legal education and training are still fresh.

Read reviews regarding legal temporary agencies to ensure your use of a reputable legal temp agency

Read reviews and marketing plans of legal associate temp agencies to enrich your education and training in filling legal temp jobs. Also educate yourself on legal temp agencies by reading other sites that assist you in understanding the responses you might get from legal staffing agencies, good or bad, and how to respond to them.

I recommend: Mplans offers information and an online video to help you view and understand potential marketing plans for a legal employment agency. Whalen Bryan, Inc. will help educate you on the services legal temp agencies offer to both the employee and to the employer.

Legal temporary agencies work with both law firms and with businesses that have a legal department or need temporary legal employees. A legal temp agency can provide your company with specialized legal consulting, or with support staff such as legal secretaries, legal proofreaders and legal word processors. Legal temp agencies can provide you with employees to fill in while others are out on vacation, for example, or they can supply experienced legal professionals to work on a specific project.

Even within the narrow field of legal temp jobs, temp agencies for the legal profession, offer a wide variety of services, from legal consulting to legal support jobs. When working with temp agencies, for the legal profession:

1. Find a legal temporary agency in your area.
2. Look for legal temporary agencies that provide extensive interviewing and screening.
3. Seek out legal temp agencies that specialize in one area, such as paralegal temp jobs.
   

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Find legal temps through a local agency

Many staffing agencies have offices nationwide, so if your company has multiple sites, this may be convenient. However, many smaller businesses may prefer a local agency who understands not only the legal profession, but also its clients' geographic region.

I recommend: Bon Temps specializes in placing temporary legal professionals at companies in New York City. The firm places legal secretaries, legal word processors, legal proofreaders, paralegals, executive receptionists, law librarians, law clerks, executive secretaries, administrative assistants, legal clericals, and other legal staff specialists. Bon Temps works not just with law firms, but also within the legal departments of corporations. Carolina Legal Associates specializes in placing temporary legal employees in firms throughout North Carolina and South Carolina. The firm also offers temp-to-perm services.

Choose a legal temp agency that conducts intensive interviewing and testing

Ensure you get the most qualified legal temps by hiring a temporary agency that provides interviewing, screening, testing and background checks. This eliminates a lot of work on your part, and guarantees that you're sent only the most qualified temporary employees.

I recommend: Legal ProTemps conducts both face-to-face screening and interviews, and specialized legal testing for all candidates. ProTemps serves Virginia and North Carolina, and offers everything from attorneys, paralegals, court reporters, legal secretaries and legal assistants. You can also request candidates with specialization in fields including criminal, corporate, real estate, family and civil law, and medical malpractice. JurisTemps provides temporary and temp-to-hire legal employees to businesses in the St. Louis, MO area, and handles advertising, interviewing, screening, testing and reference checks.

For specialized legal services, enlist paralegal temp agencies

Paralegals may be either attorneys in training or assistants to attorneys, and offer both general legal assistance and specialized services, in fields ranging from real estate law to corporate law. It's not the same as hiring an attorney, but they do offer many legal services.

I recommend: Peak Paralegals offers paralegal staffing services, in addition to project analysts, information management, case management, contract management and document review. Peak serves New York City and the tri-state area, and offers both temporary and temp-to-hire staffing. IntegriSource offers temporary and temp-to-hire paralegal staffing throughout the United States.