Temp Agencies for the Legal Profession

Tips for finding a legal temp you can trust

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

 

Invest time in researching legal temp agencies

The best way to locate professional legal temps is to find a good legal temp agency.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: Get the free legal salary guide from Robert Half Legal. You can also check online at Salary.com.

 

• 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.

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