Of particular interest, however, is that the ABA's call for comments contains three pages of questions, none of which addresses freelance lawyers. Furthermore, there is not a single question directed to contract lawyers, those who work for legal employment agencies and legal process outsourcing companies.
I pulled up the ABA's mission statement again this morning which reads as follows:
To serve equally our members, our profession, and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession.
Call my cynical if you like, but an investigation into legal outsourcing that does not even mention those lawyers who provide freelance legal services to law firms domestically, or the masses of contract lawyers that fuel fee generation for large law firms via massive document review projects, is without excuse.
Freelance lawyers, contract lawyers, stand up and tell your story. NAFLP and freelance lawyer Lisa Solomon have told them. Kimberly Alderman at "Lawyer On! The Freelance Attorney Blog" has told them ("The ABA (Unintentionally) Recognizes Freelance Lawyers as Freedom Fighters"). The Posse List, I understand, is preparing to address the issue. Now it is your turn. Tell the ABA who you are, what you do, and that if they want to act as the "national representative of the legal profession," they better take note of the entire legal profession.
Post your comments here and cc Senior Research Paralegal Natalia Vera at veran@staff.abanet.org. ABA, your comments and explanations are welcome also.
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