In today’s legal industry, and in modern professional workplaces in general, attorney work from home jobs are in demand.
Whether it’s due to a desire for better work-life balance or an unexpected need to work remotely, today’s workers increasingly crave a shift from the standard nine-to-five office paradigm: According to a recent Global Talent Trends study, 51% of employees wished their companies offered more flexible work options, while one Bank says 80% of its employees may shift to blended home-office work long-term.
Fast-tracking this growing demand for flexibility, the COVID-19 crisis has changed the way law firms operate. In many scenarios, the situation has compelled lawyers and law firms to start working remotely for the foreseeable future. Going forward, even if a state has deemed lawyers to be an essential service, many lawyers will continue to work remotely in an effort to help keep their clients, families, and colleagues safe. Meanwhile, legal professionals looking for a job are now looking for work from home attorney jobs.
If you’re looking for jobs lawyers can do from home, this post will help show you what types of jobs you might want to consider, where to find them, and how to succeed.
Types of jobs lawyers can do from home
As an attorney, you’ve done more than just serve clients over the years. You’ve developed a fine-tuned skill set. Practicing law is, at its core, like a master class in writing, risk assessment, and client management. These skills can be applied to many legal jobs, and even non-legal-sector jobs as well. And there are many roles that also offer you the flexibility to work from home.
A quick look on job sites like Indeed shows plenty of listings for attorney work from home positions. Armed with your legal education, professional experience, and fine-tuned skill set, there are many work from home lawyer jobs available to you:
Attorney
With today’s technology and telecommuting options, there are many attorney jobs from home to explore. More and more firms are hiring for roles that allow lawyers to work remotely.
Freelance Lawyer
There are plenty of online services that match freelance attorneys with law firms and other attorneys—and many of these opportunities can be taken on remotely. This can be a great option if you’re looking for additional flexibility.
Legal writer
While you might not automatically think of yourself as a writer, chances are that all the legal documents and briefs you’ve written have seasoned your craft. Interesting remote writing jobs for lawyers could include writing crafting online content (using your legal expertise to contribute to blogs or other website publications), or writing analyses and summaries for case law.
In-house counsel
We’ve seen a number of in-house counsel attorney work from home positions posted. Organizations may offer remote, part-time, or contract positions for in-house legal support. It just depends on their level of flexibility and needs.
Document reviewer
Even if this isn’t what you’d like to do long term, doc review could be a viable remote legal work opportunity to fill in a gap in employment. Continue to review new case law in your practice area to stay abreast of the law and its changes.
Non-legal work-from-home jobs
Finally, look beyond your legal experience! There are plenty of stay at home attorney jobs where your past experience or hobbies and your legal know-how may intersect.. Remote jobs in fields like project management, recruiting, content writing, and coaching could all be good options.
Whichever route you take when looking for work-from-home opportunities, be sure to prioritize jobs with flexible options—and clearly negotiate your work-from-home arrangements from the start.
Where to find lawyer work from home jobs
If you want to find meaningful work that you can do from home as a lawyer, the first step is to know where to look. Start by leveraging your personal and professional networks—make sure your connections know you’re looking for a work-from-home opportunity, and someone may just help connect you with your next great opportunity.
Beyond that, your search will likely begin online.
The following job sites (both legal-specific and otherwise) are good places to start:
LAWCLERK
Ideal for freelance lawyers, LAWCLERK is an online platform where freelance lawyers can apply for flat-fee legal projects and be hired by attorneys. Clio’s LAWCLERK integration makes it easier and more efficient for Clio attorneys to work with freelance lawyers.
Hire an Esquire
Another Clio integration partner, Hire an Esquire is a tech-enabled legal staffing platform that connects law firms with a curated network of vetted, on demand legal professionals. Focused on temporary, temp-to-perm, and permanent needs, Hire an Esquire offers opportunities in areas including overflow work, local counsel, jurisdictional coverage, and more.
Legably
Connecting freelance attorneys with law firms and corporate legal departments, this online legal staffing platform offers hourly and project-based freelance jobs targeted to your specific skills. Legably, which integrates with Clio, also rewards your work—as projects are completed, your value on the platform rises—unlocking more work opportunities.
InCloud Counsel
Focused on automating and enhancing high-volume legal processes, InCloud Counsel helps attorneys specialized in specific legal document and contract types find remote jobs. Currently, InCloudCounsel is seeking attorneys with corporate law experience, and experience with large international law firms.
Working Nomads
With digital and remote jobs in the legal sector (as well as other jobs lawyers can do from home, like writing and consulting), Working Nomads makes it easy to find work-from-home opportunities to match your varied skill-sets.
FlexJobs
With FlexJobs, you can search by industry (including legal), job type, career level, and schedule—so it’s easier to narrow down options that fit your particular skills and career trajectory. While FlexJobs offers free job-related information, you have to be a paid member to access the full job listings.
Indeed
Even if you haven’t been looking for work in many years, you’ve likely heard of Indeed. Considered the top job site in the world, Indeed offers free access to search for jobs, post your resume, and research the companies you’re interested in. We’ve seen plenty of work from home lawyer jobs posted here.
Your personal network
Personal connections can be the key to finding work. Tap into your network by reaching out to people you know. This could mean reaching out to old friends and colleagues directly, or use a professional networking site like LinkedIn to help.
How to get a work from home lawyer job
With remote interviews and a different environment and expectations than a job at a traditional firm, the path to successfully getting a work-from-home attorney job may be a bit different than what you’re used to. Here are some tips to help make the process a bit easier:
Update your LinkedIn profile
When you’re looking for work, people will absolutely look you up. Before you start hunting for online jobs for attorneys, use these tips to make sure your LinkedIn profile is professional and up to date.
Show your tech competence
When you’re working remotely as an attorney, it’s critical to show that you’re cognizant of current legal tech tools, and that you know security best practices. This shows hiring managers that you won’t require extensive training to learn how to use the tech needed to work from home, which is a huge plus for any firm or organization.
For example, cloud-based practice management software like Clio Manage can make it easier to work with legal documents, stay organized, and manage cases from anywhere. Lawyers also use Clio Grow’s client intake and CRM software to simply and securely engage with clients remotely.
Tune into this webinar on tech competence for lawyers put on by Joshua Lenon and Bob Ambrogi for more information on tech competence.
Stay flexible
These are unprecedented times, and how you handle yourself under challenging circumstances shows your professionalism. Your ability to solve problems in less-than-ideal situations is a big plus at any point in time, but even moreso now. Regardless of the reason why you (or your potential new employer) are working remotely, be in the moment, be flexible, and show that you can adapt to things like changing schedules throughout the process.
Be camera ready
Part of the hiring process for stay-at-home legal jobs may include an interview—and it may take place over video. Video interviews are, of course, a bit different than in-person ones, but there are still best practices to follow.
Showcase your best self on camera by dressing well, clearing your background, and ensuring good quality audio. You’ll find more tips for preparing for professional video meetings in our guide to working remotely as a lawyer.
Be yourself
In a remote environment, it’s more difficult to build connections. You won’t be interviewed in-person, and you won’t meet new team members in-person once you get the job, so you’ll need to make more of an effort to spark connections. Keep it professional, but don’t be afraid to show your personality and connect with your interviewers.
And of course, make sure everyone is clear on work-from-home expectations and arrangements. Once you’ve got the job, read top tips on how to work remotely as a lawyer to ensure maximum productivity and good work-life balance when working from home.
Working from home is possible
While finding a work-from-home job might not have been something you planned on doing this year, there’s no reason to be intimidated. You’ll find plenty of resources to help you succeed at remote work in our work from home resource center.
No matter why you want or need to work remotely, there are plenty of jobs that lawyers can do from home—jobs that will allow you to put your skills and experience to good use, while giving you the flexibility that you need at the moment. You never know: Working from home could be an opportunity to widen your scope of skills, gain unexpected experience, and expand your network so you’ll be an even stronger attorney in the future.