A legal consulting company provides legal advice on various aspects of the law. It provides a range of legal services to help the internal lawyers in a law firm or legal department on a short-term or project basis. Some consulting companies specialize in specific areas of the law such as finance, healthcare, civil or criminal law, to name just a few.
Many law firms (over 80% according to one survey) find it difficult to secure legal professionals for cases that they are prosecuting at any given time. Often law firms need additional lawyers for a large case or other legal project that requires specialized legal knowledge in areas such as malpractice, litigation, compliance, discovery, security and records management. Consultants can help fill the gap.
Corporations usually employ their own in-house counsel but they often need extra help for certain cases or during high workload periods or projects that need specific expertise that they lack. Companies seek experts in legal consulting companies that have the business and legal know-how to help with strategic planning, research and analysis for a legal matter.
Small and medium sized businesses, that do not maintain a legal department, will engage the services of a law firm when they need general legal advice. For advice on particular areas of the law that they need help with, such a workplace legal issues, they will turn to consultants to help with this aspect of the law. In these cases, for example, they might need specific advice on issues with employee misconduct, sexual harassment, unlawful termination or other workplace compliance infractions. A consultant may be required that has knowledge and experience in litigating these issues.
Lawyers working for a legal consulting company usually have experience in a specific area of the law. They will maintain their knowledge of the latest legal developments in the area they specialize in and be able to immediately tackle the specific problem that a client brings them. Often they also have experience in the industry that the client operates in. Many consulting companies market themselves in the legal discipline that they are experts in.
Consultants can assess and process large amounts of data relating to a client’s case and can quickly provide initial direction for their legal problem. They also have expertise in effective communication styles, client stakeholder inclusion, facilitating decision-making and overall legal problem-solving. These attributes are vital but are often less understood (and often viewed as less important) when compared with the deep technical knowledge that is expected from consultants working in the legal sector.
