LEGAL
Has your legal department decided to redirect more work in-house and rely less on outside counsel? The recent Thomson Reuters Legal Department In-Sourcing and Efficiency Report (TR Efficiency Report) discusses this trend and some best practices in how to handle this influx of work. One solution is to hire a contract attorney. What’s the best way to prepare the new contractor to be an efficient member of your team – especially in light of the often temporary nature of the role?
The first step is to identify the specific tasks the contract attorney has been brought on board to perform, and what knowledge is necessary for the contractor to complete those tasks. For example, is this a limited-scope position focused on a single task, such as document review? Or, is this a more complex position such as filling a permanent employee’s entire role for the short-term (for example, covering for an employee on maternity leave)? This analysis will help you determine the scope of training necessary, and, allow you to keep it limited to what the contractor needs to know to do her job.
Part of identifying what the contract attorney “needs to know” is determining whether she needs to be aware of a “bigger picture” to be able to complete her assigned tasks. This bigger picture could be her role within a larger project, within the company, or within the industry itself. This may depend on the nature of the contract attorney’s specific role and the specific industry in which she is working, and you’ll likely know better than anyone else how much your contract attorney needs to know about how her work fits into the bigger picture.
If some of this understanding is necessary, you should integrate it into the onboarding processes for the contractor – but only to the extent necessary for her to do the job. Indeed, training a contract employee may look much like training a permanent employee, but you may be able to limit it in terms of depth and extent, as the needs of the contract attorney’s role is more limited. Thus, many employers find that providing such tools as playbooks, checklists, and forms and annotations, are particularly effective in bringing contract employees up to speed. If the contract attorney was hired to address an overflow of contracts to be drafted, consider creating a checklist of issues to spot in the agreement or creating a playbook with the company’s stance on certain clauses that are the subject to heavy negotiation. This guidance and knowledge will ensure that the newly hired temporary attorney has access to the historical and institutional knowledge of a more seasoned attorney in the department.
Another beneficial resource for a contract attorney is the advice of their peers. Indeed, partnering a contract attorney with a permanent employee can be helpful not only in training the new employee but also in streamlining operations. The contract employee may become more comfortable in the workplace faster, which will allow her to better perform her role as a part of the whole. When a contract employee feels uncertain about her role or unclear about some of the workings of your department, a peer partner offers her a nonthreatening resource for those simple, yet essential, day-to-day questions.
While the training process may seem overwhelming, there are a variety of resources available for advice and reviewing your options. You can look to staffing agencies for training advice and resources, or to Thomson Reuters Practical Law, which offers expert knowledge and time-saving tools to ensure productivity. Overall, it is important to plan the training of a contract attorney with a clear understanding of what role you want her to fill. That way training can be focused, effective, and not unnecessarily time-consuming, while still producing a contract attorney who can hit the ground running.
Thomson Reuters has also created a resource page with helpful content discussing best practices in redirecting and bringing more work in house, including more tips on onboarding.
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