This One’s For the Free-Spirited Attorneys: Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Remote

“I’m a free spirit who never had the balls to be free.” – Cheryl Strayed, Wild

My remote-attorney experience evolved out of necessity.  I moved to California without a job or substantial savings and not having practiced law, other than some minor pro bono work, in two years.  It was a risky decision that challenged me and changed my life for the positive in ways that I could not have imagined as I was making it.

With no choice other than to find a way to bring some money in.  I began scrambling.  It’s much sexier to call it “hustling,” but it was scrambling.  I trolled Craigslist, send unsolicited e-mails, met with temp agencies, and had coffee with local attorneys kind enough to share their story.  I also pursued an idea that an attorney that I had worked with recommended – freelancing as a paralegal or attorney for law firms.

Four years later and my legal freelancing has turned into my own business, split between contract work for other attorneys and representing small business clients and freelancers directly.  I spent three months in the beginning of this year living the “digital-nomad” life with no apartment to serve as a home-base and continue to regularly take my laptop on the road.

Nomad List learned about my travels and interviewed me about my experiences as a remote attorney here.  I was pleasantly surprised to receive raw stories, positive feedback, and questions from fellow attorneys feeling the pull to travel or otherwise depart from the typical attorney lifestyle.  It made me reminisce on my own beginnings.  I wouldn’t change my evolution to a remote attorney but if I were to start over again, I would begin by spending some time considering my goals and developing more of a road-map to get there  (subject to many future changes).

The following are some questions that I recommend asking yourself when deciding whether, or how, to make the jump from a traditional legal career to a remote or more independent career path:

Why?

This is THE question.  Why do you want to work remotely or independently?  Be honest.  Maybe you want to see the world.  Maybe you want to spend more time with family.  Maye you are tired of your firm’s partner’s getting all of the income for your work.  Maybe you Maybe you just don’t like being an attorney.  Maybe it’s some combination of reasons.

There is no wrong answer and your reasons may evolve with time but knowing why you are embarking on the difficult but rewarding remote worker journey will help you determine how to do it, make better decisions, and gauge your success.  For example, if you are pursuing remote attorney work so that you can travel internationally, and are offered a full-time position that is remote but requires that you are available for calls from 9AM to 5PM EST every day, you should probably decline it because it is inconsistent with your reasons for going remote.  It may be theoretically possible to work nights to be available during these times while abroad (remember time zone differences!)  but it would make enjoying your travels quite challenging.

What are Your Lifestyle Standards?

What are your must haves for your life and your travels?  How much do those things cost?  How many months can you support your lifestyle without income?  The answers to these questions help dictate your options and your timeline for venturing out on your own.

If you have a higher standard of living and traveling – nothing wrong with requiring hotels over motels – you need to save more before venturing out on your own and need to pursue opportunities and develop a rate structure that will support your lifestyle.  If your standard of living requirements are minimal, you can get by with less savings and can get by on lower paying projects – like flat rate simple contract drafting or passion projects that pay poorly – to get by initially.

Attorney by Training or Trade?

Is working as an attorney important to you?  If you like attorney work but not the typical lawyer work lifestyle, then pursue working as a remote attorney.  It’s not the easiest remote career but it is very achievable. If you’re not committed to working as an attorney, despite your legal education, then consider other work options too.

There are a lot of other career paths that your legal education and experience make you well-equipped for but that are easier to do remotely.  You could apply your killer analytical skills in the analytics heavy digital marketing realm or you could use your writing skills to write online content (I’ve done this).  Remember, as an attorney, you are trained to learn and process new information quickly so when considering options don’t limit yourself to work that you’ve done before. (But do keep you license active so you retain the option of going back!)

Contract Attorney or Remote Attorney?

There are a few ways you can work as a remote attorney: (1) you can run a law practice remotely where you use technology to represent clients from wherever you are; (2) you can provide contract attorney services to other attorneys; or (3) you can find a full-time remote attorney job.

I do both contract attorney and direct client work but I don’t recommend it (and am transitioning away from doing both).  In my experience, pursuing both avenues leads to a lack of focus and being stretched too thin.  It’s like running two businesses.  For example, for contract attorney work, you want to network and market to fellow attorneys and law firms but for direct client work, you want to meet people in the industry you practice in.  Developing business in both areas essentially requires double marketing and networking efforts.  These efforts take time away from paid work time.

Both contract attorney and a remote practice are viable options and neither is “better.”  The best choice just depends on your personal preferences and needs.  Contract attorney worth is easier to pick-up quickly because there is always a need.  Solo-practitioners and small firms often have busy periods where they can’t keep up with the workload but lack the consistency in work-flow to hire someone full-time.  Direct client work tends to pay more because you are receiving the whole fee rather than a portion of it.  With contract attorney work, you don’t have to fulfill the customer service component of dealing with direct clients which can be challenging if you are on an international trip with a 12-hour time difference.  With direct clients, you can focus on fewer practice areas and develop more of a process for your work.  And so on…

Full-time remote attorney jobs are out there, but there aren’t a lot of them so I don’t recommend “planning” on finding that type of role.  If you are currently in a full-time traditional law firm role, you can pitch your current employer on working remotely.  Make sure you can explain how you can still do your job remotely and have a plan that includes time for feedback from your supervisor.  Going from full-time in office to full-time remote can be a tough sell to a legal employer, but requesting to work remotely sometimes is easier – you can ask to work remotely for one month a year remote or a two-days per week.

If you like this type of blog, please shoot me a comment or e-mail to let me know.  I’d love to share more about what I’ve learned am learning as a remote attorney.

If you haven’t read it, Wild is a gem (better than the movie, as usual):