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Q. What types of staffing solutions do you provide? Q. What types of staffing solutions do you provide? We specialize in providing temporary and temporary-to-permanent placement for attorneys and paralegals. Additionally, we place candidates on a permanent basis. While we do not provide “headhunter” services, we have had great success in placing both attorney and paralegal candidates on a permanent basis. Q. What types of staffing solutions do you provide? We specialize in providing temporary and temporary-to-permanent placement for attorneys and paralegals. Additionally, because of the quality of candidates we attract, we have had great success in placing attorneys and paralegals on a permanent basis. Q. Who are SLS's temporary attorneys and paralegals? While there are many reasons why a candidate would be available on a temporary basis, the following is a list of some of the more common reasons:
Q. Surely if an attorney or paralegal were good enough they would have a permanent job. Why are these attorneys and paralegals available for temporary projects? The nature of our workforce has changed. Today people are willing to take risks and are exploring opportunities that they would not have dreamed of exploring ten, twenty years ago. The Internet revolution was a tremendous catalyst in this regard. While the upside of those career choices promised untold riches, the downside often resulted in losing a job, as many who joined dot coms, for example, now find themselves out of work. Downsizing and diminishing opportunities for advancement in the legal market and the desire to explore outside interests have created an unprecedented pool of top legal talent available to practice law on a temporary basis. Some legal professionals are choosing to modify their income in order to enjoy greater flexibility in their professional and personal lives. Other highly qualified candidates find themselves out of a job as a result of the recent economic downturn. SLS recognizes that people are human, and that they have human reasons for not having a permanent job. For example, a senior in-house counsel is out of a job because the local operation closes, and he or she chooses not to accept the offer to move out of state with the company. Unfortunately, even in good economic times, senior attorneys are not swamped with job offers the way junior or mid-level attorneys are. Thus, many experienced, top-quality attorneys with extraordinary credentials are available for temporary projects while they continue to pursue permanent positions. On the other end of the spectrum, many recent law school graduates are available for temporary positions because there continues to be more law graduates than law jobs. Let's face it . . . only the top 25% of law school graduates get permanent job offers right out of law school, and many firms recruit only from a small handful of law schools. After doing the math, you realize there are many graduates out there who have been overlooked because of their class standing and schools. There are many bright, eager candidates out there who are looking for an opportunity to shine, and when SLS recruiters interview, that is whom we are looking to find. For the most part, they are the recent law school graduates mentioned at the end of the previous answer. Many of them offer a skill set that can be tapped into for paralegal or junior attorney work. For example, many worked as paralegals before law school. Others gained valuable experience during law school as interns, law clerks or summer associates with law firms and companies. Many graduate with quality experience in litigation, corporate law, real estate, intellectual property and contract drafting, to name a few. Q. How would a JD paralegal be helpful to me? JD paralegals are excellent candidates for projects such as document review and due diligence matters. Moreover, JD paralegals are often interested in performing paralegal assignments in order to gain further experience, especially those experiences that build resumes. In hiring a JD paralegal, you get the benefit of their experience and education for either the same price as a paralegal or for a few more dollars per hour. Q. Why would you not have a paralegal to fill my paralegal needs? The paralegal market is not what it used to be. There are fewer and fewer career paralegals out there. In fact, most law firms know how difficult it is to retain even recent college graduates for the initial two-year commitment! Many working paralegals are quick to enroll in law school or other graduate programs, or they transition to other careers. Therefore, as the paralegals pool continues to shrink, the number of quality paralegals, especially those available for temporary projects, similarly decreases. The hiring of JD paralegals has become a highly successful and well-accepted substitute for paralegal hiring. Q. How can I be sure a JD paralegal will have a positive attitude about doing paralegal work, including reporting to other paralegals, and not leave me for a permanent job? The short answer is that you cannot. But this is where SLS' screening process comes in to play. We explain to JD paralegals that many jobs involve paralegal tasks, and we listen to their response. In our years of recruiting, we have developed excellent instincts in identifying those with a whatever-it-takes attitude, and it is those candidates that we suggest for paralegal positions. Keep in mind that a paralegal may be just as likely to leave a temporary job for a permanent job. In fact, the market for permanent paralegals is better than the market for permanent attorneys (see the answer to question 6 above). Therefore, hiring a JD paralegal does not increase the chances of the candidate leaving . . . it may decrease them! Q. In what areas of law do your legal professionals have experience? We can provide attorneys and paralegals to meet almost all legal staffing needs. The bulk of our candidates have experience in one or more of the following areas:
Q. How do you screen your candidates? The recruiting staff of SLS conducts in-person interviews of candidates to evaluate experience, transitions and personality. SLS places great weight on our interview assessment; for example, we recognize that there is a story behind every resume, and we listen as each candidate describes the substance of his or her experience and transitions between jobs. SLS also recognizes that attitude is a large component of the work place, so we are careful to note those with a whatever-it-takes attitude as well as those who are selective with the jobs they are willing to take. We also verify credentials and bar standing and check the references provided by each candidate. SLS clients include small to large law firms and the legal departments of companies and financial institutions in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Chicago, IL and London, England. Q. Why do SLS clients hire temporary legal professionals? There are a myriad reasons to hire on a temporary basis. The following is a list of the most common reasons:
Q. How do attorneys and paralegals find out about SLS? We continually advertise for and screen new candidates to ensure that we maintain a constant influx of new legal talent. Additionally, candidates are referred to us personally, through other candidates and through clients. Q. Will a temporary attorney or paralegal be as thoroughly screened as my permanent lateral hires? In our screening process, we make no distinction between temporary and permanent candidates. Thus, we screen our temporary legal professional as extensively as we screen our permanent candidates. Q. Will I be able to interview the candidates? Yes, if your timing permits and you so desire, you have the option of interviewing any candidate whose resume we have sent you. However, sometimes our clients find it easier and preferable for us to discuss submitted candidates over the phone with them to help them decide which candidate(s) is the best fit. Q. Can we convert a temporary SLS professional to our permanent employ? Yes. And hiring an employee on a temporary-to-permanent basis offers an additional layer of on-the-job screening for lateral hires. Q. How much will it cost me to hire an SLS professional on a temp-to- perm basis? Your payments to SLS for the temporary period are credited toward the permanent fee. In fact, depending on the length of the temporary period, the permanent fee may be eliminated. Q. What are the benefits of hiring someone on a temp-to-perm basis? When you have a permanent hiring need, SLS's try before you buy option provides a number of risk reduction benefits:
However, if you decide that a traditional permanent hire better suits your needs, SLS offers an industry standard guarantee of six months for permanent attorney hires and three months for permanent paralegals hires. Q. What is our risk in hiring an SLS legal professional? Despite SLS's best efforts to screen and place a candidate and a client's best efforts to interview and select a candidate, sometimes the hired individual does not work out. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the performance of our legal professional, we will terminate the candidate's engagement and use our best efforts to find an immediate and suitable replacement. Q. Is there a minimum or maximum time limit on the engagement of an SLS temporary professional? No. You, the client, determine the duration. We provide prescreened legal professionals for a short or long period of time --- one day, one week, one month or indefinitely. Q. Can I hire someone to work part time? Yes. You tell us what your parameters are, and we will provide appropriate candidate resumes. In fact, there are a number of high caliber candidates who are available exclusively on a part time basis. Please note the following definitions: In the English vernacular, "part time"
often is used synonymously with "temporary". SLS
defines part time to mean less than 40 hours per week. We can provide
both part time temporary and part time permanent candidates. Both
indicate that the candidate works less than 40 hours per week. Q. Where can SLS temporary professionals work? SLS professionals can work at your office or at any other location you designate. Many are willing to travel nationally and internationally if the project so requires. If you do not have the office space for a temporary hire, many of our candidates have home offices and are happy to telecommute. Q. What is the rate range for your temps? Bill rates for SLS attorneys generally range from $30 to $100 per hour. Attorneys with unique and very senior levels of expertise potentially can bill out at even higher rates. Paralegal rates generally range from $18 to $50 per hour. Rates depend upon the project at hand as well as the experience level and area of expertise of the candidate. For more details, please contact us for our rate guidelines. Q. How does utilizing temporary legal professionals through SLS save money? You pay only for the hours you authorize a temporary employee to work. Therefore, you eliminate the costs associated with unbilled hours when full-time staff is not working. Additionally, since SLS employs the temporary legal professionals, we assume the administrative burdens and direct overhead expenses associated with a full-time staff. Q. What does my bill include when I am invoiced by SLS? You pay SLS only for the hours you authorize the legal professional to work, without any additional recruitment or hidden fees. For example, if you authorize the legal professional to work 40 hours in a given week and the bill rate for that professional was negotiated at $30/hr, you pay SLS $1,200. Q. How much can I expect to save? Contact us for a detailed financial analysis showing how hiring temporary legal staff can save law firms and companies significant sums of money. Call SLS to schedule a complimentary consultation
with one of our legal recruiters or sales professionals, and we
will evaluate your legal staffing needs. After we have worked together
to determine your temporary need, we will call appropriate candidates
and submit resumes as soon as possible.
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