Thinking about working as a free-lance attorney? Get your agreement in writing.

Get it in writing (when you can) is the gist of this article from the Lawyerist.

From the article:

The question of whether the work of a freelance attorney requires a written agreement seems obvious at first glance — “get it in writing” is the golden rule, after all. In practice it is not always that simple. There may be situations, depending on the client, project, or timetable, where getting a written freelance work agreement is not possible or necessary.

Yours truly worked for a law firm on the other side of the state after taking the Bar exam & before getting licensed and starting my own firm. It was a great way to get exposed to a "real life" practice and away from Bar exam questions. But we didn't have any agreement in writing for what we were doing, which I regret.

I really enjoyed doing freelance work. It was mostly legal research and some drafting of pleadings. I had a bit of experience, but I didn't have as much risk as the attorney who was taking in the work. On the downside, it was very come and go. When I got a new bit of work, it was red hot, and I'd work over the weekend to get it done. But once it was done I might go for three weeks without any new work.