Three Questions Interim Lawyers Need to Ask
Overview:
Interim lawyers should ask three key questions before starting an assignment:
- Identifying the employer and payment details,
- Understanding client payment and expectations, and
- Clarifying client payment for services.
It’s important to be covered by professional indemnity insurance and to be aware of restrictions and obligations for permanent employment. Additionally, understanding fees and restrictions for permanent employment can help avoid difficulties at the end of an interim assignment and bridge the expectation gap due to payment differences, impacting performance versus client expectations.
Transcript:
This is Andrew Murdoch from Dovetail Legal Solutions with three questions interim lawyers should ask before they begin an assignment. The first question should be, who is my employer? Who’s going to be paying my salary and my superannuation?
Under the legal uniform laws, this should either be a legal practice or the company to which you are providing advice to. To do otherwise may mean you’re not covered by professional indemnity insurance. The second question you need to ask is, how much is the client paying for my services?
If they’re paying $300k a year and you’re receiving $100k a year, does the client know how much you’re getting paid? And do you know how much the client is paying? The difference between those two numbers could lead to an expectation gap, which could become awkward in terms of your performance versus what the client expects. The third question you should ask is: What are the restrictions and obligations, if any, on a client and you should the client wish to engage you as a permanent employee?
Are there any fees that need to be paid? Are there any restrictions on the client contract or on your contract? To know this will avoid the difficult situation at the end of your interim assignment and you wish to both become a permanent employee, that they can’t do so because of some restrictions that you’re unaware of or the client was unaware of.
To hear Dovetail’s answers to these questions, please continue to watch this video.
And if you’d like to speak further about anything raised, please contact me, Andrew Murdoch, at Dovetail Legal Solutions. Thank you!
